The Wrongologist

What’s Wrong Today

Review these two
statements, the first by President Obama, the second by Indiana Governor Mitch
Daniels, who gave the GOP response last night after the State of The Union
address:

President
Barack Obama, SOTU Address, January
24, 2012:

“But in return, we need to change our
tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of Members of Congress, pay
our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make
more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes.
And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop
subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year,
you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other
hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families,
your taxes shouldn’t go up. You’re the ones struggling with rising costs and
stagnant wages. You’re the ones who need relief.”

/snip/

“Now, you can call this
class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as
his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

Governor Mitch Daniels, GOP Response, January
24, 2012: 

“It’s absolutely so
that everyone should contribute to our national recovery, including of course
the most affluent among us. There are smart ways and dumb ways to do this: the
dumb way is to raise rates in a broken, grossly complex tax system, choking off
growth without bringing in the revenues we need to meet our debts. The
better course is to stop sending the wealthy benefits they do not need, and
stop providing them so many tax preferences that distort our economy and do
little or nothing to foster growth.”    

(Underlining in both statements by the Wrongologist)

Keep
both statements in mind as you process the various responses to the President’s
speech, particularly comments by the Republican presidential
candidates, Speaker Boehner and Leader Cantor.

Obama
and Daniels are essentially making the same point and suggest the same path forward.
Both identify the wealthiest Americans as an opportunity for a
correction/adjustment to our Federal tax policy. 

So
What’s Wrong?

Republicans
continually say that President Obama is using “class warfare” to
achieve a goal they call income redistribution. 

It
seems that Daniels is saying we should increase taxes on the 1%, i.e. the same
thing.

Are the statements different? 

Another example of hypocrisy by the Republicans…

and
it continues to be WRONG!