Critics of tea party protesters scoffed at our concerns over deficit spending leading to higher taxes. They told us “President Obama promised he will not raise taxes for the middle class!” We were called racist and stupid. What do we - the hard working, tax paying Americans – know about the economy or economic justice?
But we were, and still are, right. There is no way the president can sign trillion dollar stimulus bills and trillion dollar budget bills without raising taxes on all of us. And if he gets his way on cap and trade and health care it’s only going to be worse. As it is, the middle class is going to be hit with tax hikes. This morning that was all but confirmed.
Larry Summers, economic adviser to President Obama, refused to rule out a middle class tax increase. That’s code for “there will definitely be a middle class tax increase.” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner also couldn’t say taxes for middle class Americans won’t go up. He was slightly more forthcoming than Summers.
To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, “We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.”
Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldn’t do it.
“We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”
Hard choices? Those getting hit with the tax hikes won’t have a choice! And Tim Geithner is good at avoiding paying his full share. So what are the democrats doing right now about the soaring deficit? Why, increasing it of course, by calling for another “stimulus” and billions more to bail out the auto company they’ve taken over.
