Then and now

By James Morrow in Sydney

22 April 2010

Barack Obama, 12 September 2008:

"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Yeah, I know, the pledge has been comprehensively broken.

But check this out ... Barack Obama this week when asked about a Value-Added Tax:

"I want to get a better picture of what our options are."

Well, Obama's been doing everything else he could -- from running up massive debt to privileging the public sector to insulting traditional democratic allies while currying favour with dictators and despots -- to turn the US into a flaccid European welfare state, so I guess it was only a matter of time before he mooted a VAT as well.

UPDATE: Link to Obama's VAT quote above fixed. And although the idea may for the moment be radioactive, Democrats have been mulling this for quite some time. I'd also note that while we in Australia live under a dual income-VAT regime, when the GST was introduced it was widely blamed for pushing the country into recession. The last thing the American economy needs right now is a further slug on private sector growth and activity.

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Comments

Jonathan

2:22 PM on Thu 22 April 2010

How has the tax pledge been broken, James? The reasoning in your link is fairly spurious: a tax on tanning salons that will begin after Obama's first term is a tax raise on those earning less than $250k? This is a tax increase that doesn't have to hit anyone who doesn't want it to hit them.

I'd provide a reference for your second quote, but our comment system seems to filter out urls. But reading the actual reporting on the interview reveals a story significantly less alarming than your sound bite indicates.

James

5:56 PM on Thu 22 April 2010

Jonathan, if you want to be very literal and say that BHO hasn't increased taxes on the

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