Obama Revenue from "Tax The Rich"

President Obama has one overwhelming theme for his entire plan to restore the economy, return jobs to the U.S., and bring us back to greatness: TAX THE RICH. The problem is, it only raises - AT MOST - 120 Billion dollars a year.

Fact: The Definition of "Rich"
Individuals making 200,00 and families making 250,000 dollars a year.

Counter-Fact: "Rich" in the Future
This number is never raised, lowered, or indexed with inflation in any legislative proposals. Therefore $200,000 would still be "Rich" a hundred years from now.

TAX THE RICH has been suggested in various forms:

Proposal	Low-Estimate Revenue	High-End Estimate
The Buffet Rule	4.6B	50B
Rich Pay Their "Fair Share"	70B	70B
Obamacare	Unknown	Unknown

Here is the most important thing you should know: In their own Best-Case Scenarios, they would only raise $120 Billion extra dollars a year. This barely affects the current 1 Trillion+ yearly deficit spending.


The Buffet Rule
A proposed law which would make all "Rich" people pay a minimum 30% tax rate.

Revenue

•  In January 2012, an analysis by Think Tank (Conservative) reported it would bring in an additional $36.7 Billion every year.
• An alternative study by Citizens for Tax Justice (Liberal), same month, reported it would bring in an additional $50 Billion every year.
• In March 2012, a non-partisan group, United States Congress Joint Committee on Taxation, proposed it would bring in $46.7 Billion over 10 years.

 Summary
These numbers assume the Bush Tax Cuts are NOT extended. In the best case scenario, we gain an additional $50 Billion dollars a year.


The Top 2% Pay Their Fair Share Promise
Since Barack Obama began running as a Presidential Candidate in 2008, he has made statements that he would roll-back the Bush Tax Cuts on the "wealthiest 2%" of our country.

Revenue

• According to the Center on Budget and Priority Policies (Liberal), this would raise 700 Billion dollars over 10 years, or 70 Billion dollars a year. (Link)
• According to the New York Times article here, it agrees that this would raise 700 Billion dollars over 10 years.

 Summary
You may hear two other figures: 3.7 Trillion or 4.4 Trillion over 10 years. For these numbers to be true, you would have to end ALL Bush Tax Cuts and assume a high economic growth rate. Given the best estimates provided, though, this would bring in an additional 70 Billion dollars.


Obamacare
Unknown to many people, Obamacare has at least 20 different taxes listed within its legislation. Grover Nordquist, a highly polarizing figure in tax debates, has listed them here, but has also provided references to each one by document and date of implementation. Forbes.com specifically lists 7 taxes that will hit those other than the "Rich" here. Most prominent among them is you will have to claim more Medical Items to get a deduction (from 7.5% to 10%).

Revenue

• According to the President, Obamacare was revenue "neutral". That means is should pay for itself.
• The CBO has scored and re-scored the plan, however, no one seems to know the exact cost of the plan now because all their estimates and projections were wrong. (CBO's last scoring said Obamacare would cost at least $1.8 Trillion between 2012 and 2022.

 Summary
There is no "Best-Case" revenue for Obamacare. It has not lowered any costs or lowered any deficits. Premiums are actually rising and Medicare Payouts are less.


 Final Notes
"Tax The Rich" is, so far, President Obama's only solution to change the course of our country. It includes his only solution to bringing back more American jobs. Based on the information he has provided, it only does two things. It takes money from the top 2% and - in the best-case scenario - only brings in $120 Billion extra dollars a year.

The President is very vague on his plans; he does not talk about Obamcare, but reflectively. It appears to have no savings and an increasing cost which is now called a "tax" by the Supreme Court.

Taxing the rich, by Conservative standards, usually has a few certain outcomes:

• It gives an immediate, short, boost to government revenue.
• The costs of these tax hikes then become passed on to the consumer. (Higher Prices, more Job Losses.)
• It lowers government revenue over the long term.

Ultimately, what this means is that neither President Obama, nor the Democratic Party, are actually trying to help our country get through the recession. It's only class warfare; they are blaming the rich for our problems. The "Tax the Rich" solution is a scam. It never - not even by their own reports - raises enough money to solve anything.