Saturday, November 1, 2008

Nice try...


Speaking of taxes and tax cuts, this blogger was 'going round the channels' on television (cable) looking for something to watch and happened to see a snippet of a Fox show. The host was interviewing a "Democratic activist" and apparently trying to make the criticism that Senator Obama's definition of who would get the tax cut was a moving target.

The host played four video snippets - Senator Obama on the stump saying that everyone making over a quarter of a million would pay higher taxes; an Obama advertisement saying that everyone making under $200,000 a year would get a tax break; Senator Biden saying that the middle class, those making less than $150,000 a year, would get a tax cut; and Governor Bill Richardson saying the same as Biden, but using the figure of $120,000 a year...

The host then tried to make the point that the cut off point for raising taxes seemed to be a downward-moving target. The "Democratic activist" first tried to evade the point and said that it was all totally consistent i.e. if everyone making below $250,000 a year was getting a tax cut, then clearly folks making less than $200,000/year, $150,000/year, and $120,000/year would also get tax cuts! Now, while a proposition such as this is literally true, she completely avoided the real question (i.e. is the threshold above which filers would get a tax increase slowly ratcheting down!) Nice try!! Well, give her 'props' for thinking quickly on her feet...

She could have said that Obama was being consistent (i.e. tax increases above $250,000/year, decreases below $200,000/year, and no change for those between $200,000 and $250,000/year) and that Biden and Richardson were both talking through their hats. However, she tried the line above, and when pressed further fell back on "... I think a majority of Americans make about $45,000 a year.. and they're going to get relief..."