Obama’s Tax Claims Contradict Reality

Curtis Dubay / April 16, 2009

President Obama marked Tax Day with a speech touting his tax policies. He made several claims about how his policies will improve the economy, most of which don’t hold up under close scrutiny.

Here are a few of the more egregious examples:

• President Obama claimed the tax cuts in the mis-labeled “stimulus” bill are the most progressive in history. This is true because the so-called stimulus created the Making Work Pay Credit and expanded the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. All these credits are refundable, so they send checks to tax filers who pay no income tax. This is income redistribution that does nothing to stimulate the economy.
• President Obama also claimed that his tax policies cut taxes for the most number of workers ever. This is flat out false. The credits in the so-called stimulus phase out for anyone making over $95,000 ($190,000 for married filers), so a large number of workers are excluded from claiming any portion of them. The 2003 tax cuts applied to all workers because (more…)