Dakota Beacon

The “fiscal cliff deal” that Obama led us into and congress imposed upon us raised taxes on almost 80% of American households. That’s what workers discovered in their January paychecks.

It’s not nice to laugh at another person’s misfortune, but Obama voters, i.e., the low information voters as one wag puts it, have earned a chuckle at their own expense. It doesn’t get any more delicious than this and they brought it on themselves.

So, are things better in America now because the upper class had it stuck to them? The rich pay more, the middle class is protected and now we can start chipping away at the national debt, right?

Low information voters swallowed the rhetorical bait (“soak the rich” and “pay their fair share”) hook, line and sinker. These people should have known otherwise. They should have realized the feds just can’t hand out massive freebies like bailouts, stimulus, subsidies and Obamacare and believe the president can protect them from burdensome taxes.

Middle class workers’ first paychecks in January 2013 told a harshly different story. Following their New Year celebrations, Democrat voters received a healthy dose of economic reality. Rather than gathering a few Obama bucks, paychecks for most households took a hit. The new deal from the federal government’s “fiscal cliff deal” has become a raw deal for up to 80% of American households. This has to be an “I told you so” moment.

Proportionately, the tax increase actually hurts the middle class more than it does those who earn $200,000 to $500,000. This according to the Tax Policy Center.

How can this be? Households earning between $200k and $500k will pay an additional $2,711 or 1.3% more in taxes in 2013. Households earning $30k to $200k will pay up to $1,784 or 1.7% in taxes. This is largely due to an increase in the payroll tax which will increase from 4.2% to 6.2%.

The payroll tax takes a bigger bite than does the income tax. Income taxes are withheld from an employee’s wages and go into a general fund. Payroll taxes, on the other hand, are comprised of Medicare and Social Security taxes and are also withheld from and employee’s paycheck. Generally, income tax is considered a progressive tax. Higher incomes are taxed at a greater percentage than lower incomes. Payroll taxes are regressive. Payroll taxes make up a larger percentage of income as earnings decline.

DemocratUnderground.com cites many comments by many Democrats with buyers remorse. Many are downright furious. Warning: Some of the comments directed toward Obama and congress are fairly obscene.

It’s true that taxes are not rising as much as if there had been no deal, but from the view of the average American this has to be confusing. Obama and the Democrats stated over and over that there would be no tax increase on the middle class. Yet that is exactly what just happened.

We now own a fiscal cliff deal that is temporary at best, will actually add an additional $330 billion to the deficit and raises taxes on 80% of the American households. With this record it’s hard to take President Obama and the congress seriously.

And our “leaders” are not stopping here. Democrats announced they want to find another $1 trillion in additional tax revenue in 2013. And they will, of course, at the public’s expense.

Obama voters, the joke’s on you.

Unfortunately, the low information voters who supported Obama have dragged the rest of us down into a tax abyss.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).