Democrats’ “Economy Tax” Punishes the Middle Class

October 10, 2012

Democrats’ “Economy Tax” Punishes the Middle Class

Dems’ Failed Policies Have Crushed Household Income and Their Spending Sprees Will Cost Families $4,000 a Year

The Democrats’ irresponsible spending sprees have ballooned the national debt over the last four years and the bill has yet to be paid, to the tune of $4,000 a year for middle class families.
But thanks to the “economy tax” created by the Democrats’ failed policies, families are less able to shoulder this burden than ever.
Democrats want to keep spending money we don’t have even though this growing debt will continue to suffocate America’s economic growth and hurt working families’ income and job prospects.

The Democrats’ irresponsible spending sprees have ballooned the national debt over the last four years and the bill has yet to be paid, to the tune of $4,000 a year for middle class families:

STUDY: ANNUAL COST OF OBAMA’S DEBT AMOUNTS TO $4,000 A YEAR IN HIGHER TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: “In a new paper, AEI’s Aspen Gorry and Matt Jensen look at the real annual cost of servicing the debt for households at various levels of income — including a potentially higher tax burden. As the table below illustrates, a household making between $100,000 and $200,000 a year could find its tax liability higher by roughly $2,400 every year. Over ten years, that works out to $24,000. And when you add in the debt already accrued the past four years under President Obama (the second table), that’s another $1,600 a year. So now we are now talking about $4,000 a year, $40,000 over ten years.” (James Pethokoukis, “Study: Obama’s Big Budget Deficits Could Mean A $4,000 A Year Middle-Class Tax Hike,” American Enterprise Institute, 10/2/12)

POLITIFACT SAID LAST YEAR THAT OBAMA WAS THE “UNDISPUTED DEBT KING OF THE LAST FIVE PRESIDENTS”: “Obama is the undisputed debt king of the last five presidents, rather than the guy who added a piddling mount to the debt.” (Louis Jacobson, “Nancy Pelosi Posts Questionable Chart on Debt Accumulation by Barack Obama, Predecessors,” Politifact, 5/19/2011)

$5.54 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 10/9/2012)

NATIONAL DEBT CURRENTLY STANDS AT $16.16 TRILLION; SIZE OF NATION’S ECONOMY AT $15.59 TRILLION: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 10/9/2012; Bureau of Economic Analysis, Accessed 9/18/2012)

THREE YEARS AND TWO MONTHS OF OBAMA WAS MORE DEBT THAN EIGHT YEARS OF PREDECESSOR: “The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama’s three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency. The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.” (Mark Knoller, “National Debt Has Increased More Under Obama than Under Bush,” CBS News, 3/19/2012)

OBAMA RECORD “THE MOST RAPID INCREASE IN THE DEBT UNDER ANY U.S. PRESIDENT”: (Mark Knoller, “National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama,” CBS News’ Political Hotsheet Blog, 8/22/2011)

CHINA OWNS $1.15 TRILLION IN U.S. DEBT: (“Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, 9/18/2012)

But thanks to the “economy tax” created by the Democrats’ failed policies, families are less able to shoulder this burden than ever:

ROMNEY: DEMOCRATS’ FAILED POLICIES HAVE CREATED AN “ECONOMY TAX”: “The people who are having a hard time right now are middle-income Americans. Under the President’s policies, middle-income Americans have been buried. They’re just being crushed. Middle-income Americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. This is a tax in and of itself. I’ll call it the economy tax. It’s been crushing.” (“Remarks by the President and Governor Romney in the first Presidential Debate,” The White House, 10/4/2012)

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: FAMILIES “WOULD LOVE IT IF REAL FAMILY MEDIAN INCOME WERE NOT WHERE IT WAS IN 1995”: “They would love it if real family median income were not where it was in 1995. They would love it, to see an America growing again with new jobs again and rising wages again. And they would love to get that tax bill because it would mean that they were moving on up and so were their kids.” (Bill Clinton, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Durham, NH, 10/3/2012)

MEDIAN INCOME WAS $55,198 WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE; IT IS $50,678 TODAY: (“Household Income Down 8.2 Percent Since Obama Took Office,” Fox News, 9/26/2012)

U.S. INCOMES FELL MORE AFTER STIMULUS THAN DURING RECESSION: (Jeff Kearn, “U.S. Incomes Fell More in Recovery, Sentier Says,” Bloomberg, 8/23/2012)

PRICE TAG FOR FAILED STIMULUS: $833 BILLION: (Congressional Budget Office, 8/23/2012)

REPORT: MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES “STRUGGLING TO ADVANCE” IN OBAMA ECONOMY: (Ronald Brownstein, “Struggling to Advance,” National Journal, 9/28/2012)

75% SAY GETTING AHEAD IS HARDER THAN IT HAS BEEN FOR PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: (Ronald Brownstein, “Struggling to Advance,” National Journal, 9/28/2012)

MEDIAN NET WORTH PLUMMETED DURING THE RECESSION: “Perhaps the most dramatic figure is that median net worth took a major hit during the recession. It plummeted from $152,950 to $93,150.” (Eyder Peralta, “Pew: Middle Class Poorer, Earning Less and Shrinking,” NPR, 8/22/2012).

Democrats want to keep spending money we don’t have even though this growing debt will continue to suffocate America’s economic growth and hurt working families’ income and job prospects:

DEMOCRATS WANT TO HIT 940,000 SMALL BUSINESSES WITH A TAX HIKE SO THEY CAN KEEP SPENDING: “Congress’s Joint Tax Committee—not a conservative outfit—estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers will have enough business income to meet Mr. Obama’s tax increase threshold.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)

CBO: OBAMA BUDGET WILL “HURT THE ECONOMY IN THE LONG TERM”: (Erik Wasson, “CBO Estimates Obama’s 2013 Budget Would Hit Economic Growth,” The Hill, 4/20/2012)

STUDY: ECONOMIC GROWTH TAKES 25% HIT FROM DEBT LEVELS AT MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF ECONOMY: (Rich Miller, “Reinharts, Rogoff See Huge Output Losses From High Debt,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/30/2012)

GOLDMAN SACHS RESEARCH: STIMULUS SPENDING “WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO A DRAG,” HIGHER DEBT LEVELS TAKE ECONOMIC TOLL: “The eventual effect of sustained fiscal imbalance is slower growth and greater risk of a fiscal crisis. Our estimates suggest that a 10-point increase in the debt/GDP ratio lowers growth four years later by 0.2 percentage point, and increases the probability of a debt crisis by 2.5% in the aftermath of a financial crisis like the recent one. (See No Rush for the Exit,” Global Economics Paper, No. 200, June 30, 2010 and “When One Crisis Leads to Another,” US Economics Analyst, 11/04, Jan. 28, 2011.) To avoid this, lawmakers must begin to identify deficit reduction strategies.

“Ultimately, what goes up must come down. In the case of the federal budget, this means that a deficit-financed boost to growth will eventually lead to a drag. While policymakers can try to smooth the transition by phasing in cuts and incorporating multi-year fiscal commitments, achieving a sustainable fiscal policy will inevitably be a painful but necessary process.” (Jan Hatzius and Alec Phillips, “Fiscal Restraint: A Question of When, Not If,” Goldman Sachs Global ECS U.S. Research, 3/2/2011)

MAJOR ECONOMIC STUDY LINKS GOVERNMENT DEBT TO SLOWER ECONOMIC GROWTH: “Our main finding is that across both advanced countries and emerging markets, high debt/GDP levels (90 percent and above) are associated with notably lower growth outcomes… Seldom do countries simply ‘grow’ their way out of deep debt.” (Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff, “Growth in a Time of Debt,” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 12/31/2009)

Democrats’ “Economy Tax” Punishes the Middle Class http://ow.ly/elrDN