The President's Plan
- Blames Bush: President Obama correctly points out that
he inherited a projected $1.2 trillion deficit in 2009 from
President Bush and a Democratic Congress. However, his budget adds
an additional $659 billion to that deficit, pushing it above $1.8
trillion. Although Obama has pledged to reduce the budget deficit
to approximately $600 billion by 2012, that would still be $150
billion above pre-recession levels. Quadrupling the deficit and
then cutting it in half is not "change."
- Increases Spending, Again: After an $800 billion
stimulus bill, the Obama budget increases spending by $1 trillion
over 10 years, includes an additional $250 billion placeholder for
another bailout, and calls for a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) law while
astonishingly violating that rule by $3.4 trillion.
-
Expands Government: The 25% spending increase in the
Obama budget represents the largest non-war government expansion
since the New Deal.
- Leaves Deficits: The Obama budget leaves permanent
deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and
doubles the publicly held national debt to over $15 trillion ($12.5
trillion in 2009 dollars).
- Cuts Defense: The Obama budget fails to fully fund the
core defense needs of the United States. About $30 billion more is
needed in the base defense budget.
- Puts Government in Charge: The $634 billion for health
care reform in the Obama budget is only a "down payment" on an
eventual government-run system. Experts believe the actual cost
could reach $1.6 trillion over 10 years. This is in addition to the
trillions already spent on health care this year in the stimulus
and SCHIP bills.
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
- Energy Taxes: The Obama budget proposes a $646 billion
cap-and-trade tax that White House officials admit could actually
generate $1.9 trillion in tax revenue over eight years. This tax
would cost each American household between $650 and $2,000 annually
in new energy costs, even though President Obama promised that
"electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" under this
cap-and-trade program (January 2008).
- Oil and Gas Taxes: The Obama budget would collect $31
billion in new oil and gas tax revenue. These industries are
already taxed above the industrial average, and increasing the
burden would be detrimental to increasing or even maintaining
domestic supply.
- Death Taxes: The estate tax is set to expire in 2010,
but the Obama budget and liberals in Congress are proposing keeping
it between 35% and 45%.
- Tobacco Taxes: The largest tobacco tax in history is
three times as likely to affect low-income Americans, who are more
likely to smoke, as it is to affect high-income Americans.
There Are Alternatives
- Lower Taxes: Senator Jim DeMint's "American Option"
offered during the stimulus debate would have reduced business
taxes from 35% to 25% to spur rapid growth in wages, jobs, and
business incomes. It also would have permanently repealed the
Alternative Minimum Tax and reduced the individual tax rate to
three levels--10%, 15%, and 25%--giving Americans more of their own
money to fuel the economy and increasing disposable income for the
average family of four by up to $4,500 by 2013.
For more information, please
visit: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/03/tea-party-talking-points.