Timelordwho wrote:
Honestly, it will make for great tv as the GOP tells us why reducing taxes is bad for America.
rdmcandie wrote:
I can't wait for Gbaji to come in and tell us why its bad to reduce taxes on Americans, and close loopholes for tax evasion.
Yeah. That's pretty obviously the point of the proposal in the first place. But then, you knew that:
rdmcandie wrote:
I love how Naive you are when it comes to how the mentality of the politic stage works.
A. The GOP say this is a great idea and put support behind the incumbent president, leaving the future GOP candidate treading water.
B. The GOP oppose the idea, thus taking a stance that reducing taxes on americans is a bad thing, or admitting support for loopholes that allow businesses and investors the ability to avoid paying the tax they should be is a good thing.
You left out option C: The GOP praises the idea of lowering taxes, but point out that Obama is not eliminating deductions fairly, but in a way that targets industries he dislikes while favoring those he does. They up the ante by suggesting that we reduce the rate further and flatten deductions across the board instead of selective.
And result is Obama looks like the guy using the tax code to play favorites, which plays right into the "crony capitalism" argument the GOP has been making for a year or so now. All they need to is point to GE to make this point, then ask where the eliminations of the tax loopholes they used to pay zero taxes (which is less than 9% last I checked) are.
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Pretty cut and dry, option A is out the window as the GOP won't put support behind a democrat president in an election year, as for Gbaji, we all know how much he likes to parrot party talking points.
I have no clue what "the party" is going to say. This is the first I've heard of this. But without looking at the actual proposal itself, I can't assess it directly. Based just on the linked article though, it sure looks like Obama is stacking the proposal with so much stuff that he knows the GOP wont accept that it's clear this isn't a serious tax reform plan, but just a campaign year game. And yeah, you can insert "poison pill" in there if you want. But that's exactly what it is, right?
If I were running things in the GOP, I'd say "great idea Obama!", then have my House members write up a version of Obama's plan which includes all the things the GOP wants. Then make a big deal out of Obama opposing his own plan and use that to highlight the fact that he didn't really want to lower taxes in the first place.
Or, if you want a less cynical approach, you actually put a "real" tax reform bill on the table. One that cuts taxes across the board, and eliminates deductions across the board. Then watch the liberals howl about how completely equal taxes on all businesses are somehow "unfair". That would be fun to watch!
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All in all, pretty fail proof political barrage by Obama, GOP is damned if they do damned if they don't.
It's a decent barrage, and I'm sure the media will eat it up. I wouldn't call it fail proof though. It's really no different than what he did with his speech about his propsed deficit reduction compromise. That didn't exactly go over well either, did it? At the end of the day, his own party rejected his own proposal. Kinda hard to blame Republicans when the Dems can't even support their own ideas.
Edited, Feb 22nd 2012 2:51pm by gbaji