Do you see the problem here? The annual budget deficit has been running at around $1.2 trillion. (The Hill reports the deficit for October alone was $120 billion.) Raising taxes on “the wealthiest 2%,” it is estimated, would increase government revenues $829 billion over a decade. When Van Roekel says the tax hike “takes us a long way there,” he’s off by an order of magnitude…
The Obama tax hikes would both be too much and too little–too much not to dampen already weak economic growth, too little to stop the rapid accumulation of debt.
Meanwhile, National Journal reports that “Senate Democratic leaders . . . rejected putting any entitlement reforms forward ahead of Friday’s meeting” with congressional leaders at the White House. “In fact, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked only about what he won’t accept during negotiations–namely, any changes to Social Security.”
