Obama: Oh, by the way, I haven't raised taxes once

Via Amy Proctor, it’s a few days old but too exquisitely shameless to let pass. How shameless? So shameless that even his pals at PolitiFact, who normally can be trusted to shill for him on ObamaCare, can’t absolve him:

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The idea that Obama did not raise taxes is just plain wrong. He signed legislation raising taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products soon after taking office; that money goes to pay for children’s health insurance programs. The law went into effect in 2009. He also signed the health care law, which includes taxes on indoor tanning that went into effect last year. (Regular PolitiFact readers will remember our fact-check of reality TV star Snooki and her complaint about the new tax last year.)

The new health care law also includes a tax on people who decide not to have health insurance, as an incentive for them to get coverage. The tax phases in gradually, starting in 2014. By 2016, the tax would be $695 per uninsured person up to a maximum of three times that amount, or $2,085. The law includes exemptions for people who can’t find affordable insurance, and a few other special circumstances.

More significantly, the health care law includes new taxes on the wealthy, starting in 2013. Individuals who make more than $200,000 and couples that make more than $250,000 will see additional Medicare taxes of 0.9 percent. They will also, for the first time, have to pay Medicare taxes on their investment income at a 3.8 percent rate. (Current law is that all workers and employers split a 2.9 percent Medicare tax; the self-employed pay all of it.)

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Remember, this guy’s own Justice Department has taken to claiming that the mandate is a tax as a fallback argument in court for its constitutionality. According to Grover Norquist’s group, ObamaCare alone is responsible for raising more than two dozen distinct taxes, with another massive tax hike to come in two years if Democrats somehow manage to let the Bush tax cuts finally lapse. And yet here he is, not only cheerily lying to a Super Bowl audience but later advising O’Reilly that Fox News would be a lot better if it concentrated less on spin and more on … facts.

Exit question: Are the taxes going to be mentioned in the ObamaCare comic book? Probably not, right?

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