Obama Flames Out

Barack Obama proposed a complete overhaul of the tax system. He also proposes simplifying taxes so much that the IRS will be able to do your taxes for you. They will send you your tax return, already filled out. You just sign it and send it back in.

This marks the end of Obama's run as a serious candidate. He will still go through the motions and lots of people still support him.

Regardless, this sort of proposal always comes from second tier (or lower) candidates - the people who have no chance of winning.

There are a few reasons for this. In Obama's case, his simplified tax proposal is likely to upset too many special interests. A second reason is that he is making it revenue neutral while promising ta breaks for 150 million people. That means a tax increase for up to half the country - the half that has money. Keep in mind that Obama already expects the top wage earners to pay for his health care proposal so he is proposing a double hit on the rich (to be fair, his advisers claim that they have found other funding for health care) . Keeping in mind how loose the Democrats' definition of "rich" is. It is often defined as anyone in the upper 10% of wage earners which means that a family of two teachers could qualify as rich.*

While many people are willing to donate money to a candidate who promises to raise their taxes in order to cut someone else's, there are a lot more who succumb to self-preservation. Obama's donor base may well dry up.

As part of the new progressive movement, Obama is rejecting free market and the experience of the last half century or so. Current economic theory holds that placing a heavy tax burden on the top wage earners will cause a drag on the entire economy.

Fortunately, Obama's proposals seem more and more desperate. He has not been able to close the nearly 20% gap with Hillary. With the first primaries in four months or less and the nomination likely to be sewn up within five months, he is trying to offset his inexperience with specific proposals. This is a dangerous move. Once he has pinned himself down, his rivals have specifics that they can attack. There is no good way out of this. If he changes details he looks immature. If he sticks with them as announced, he may look stubborn, and immature. Either way, he looks like a candidate who knows he is losing.


* Currently they are tossing around a $200,000/year figure for rich but some Democrats define it as low as $100,000. In Columbus, the average wage for a teacher is over $50,000 so the fmily income of two teachers qualifies them as rich.