The conservative economist in California argues that Obama's proposed tax increases on "millionaires and billionaires" actually start with people who earn $250,000 or more a year: "That is more than most people make, but it is far short of a million dollars, and miles away from a billion dollars. How many of the people who stand to get hit with Obama's higher tax rate plan are in fact either millionaires or billionaires? According to the Internal Revenue Service, there are more than 2,700,000 people who earn $250,000 a year or more – and fewer than one-tenth of them earn a million dollars or more. So more than nine-tenths of the people who would be hit with the higher taxes supposedly aimed at 'millionaires and billionaires' are neither."
Dr. Sowell continues his commentary about taxes in America: "Both Democratic and Republican presidents once warned that high tax rates can reduce economic growth. And Secretaries of the Treasury under both Democratic and Republican administrations once pointed out that higher tax rates do not necessarily bring in more tax revenues than lower tax rates. Yet this lesson from more than 90 years ago has still not been learned by those who advocate higher taxes on 'the rich' as the answer to our fiscal problems. In today's global economy, it is even easier for genuine millionaires and billionaires to escape high tax rates by investing in other countries. Not so for the other nine-tenths of the people hit with higher tax rates, such as small business owners or independent professionals such as dentists or realtors, whose sources of income are necessarily local."
More commentary from Dr. Sowell: "Those hardest hit by high tax rates that drive jobs overseas are likely to be those who are unemployed and need jobs here. Ironically, millionaires and billionaires may have the least to lose from higher tax rates on 'the rich.' But Barack Obama has the most to gain from class warfare rhetoric that wins votes from gullible people."
Thomas Sowell: "Obama Using Bait & Switch On Taxes"
