Middle class topped out at 70K in 2003 - Obama

[cwo_ghwebb]

Would this be what Obama really thinks is the upper income limit of the middle class?

...with Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and their various surrogates having trouble finding the floor for tax cuts, perhaps more trenchant than it otherwise would be. In a 2003 interview while starting his Senate campaign, Obama said that tax cuts should have been targeted no higher than the $70K level:



The EITC reference is interesting. That’s a refundable, rather than a tax cut. It’s basically a redistributive tool, although one with broad bipartisan support. No one ever talks about ending the EITC, or at least not seriously enough to matter. It does reflect Obama’s inclination to rely on refundables rather than actual rate cuts, which reflects on his current tax plans.

Obama’s top end for cuts certainly changed dramatically. If he thought that tax cuts should be limited to $70K in 2003, he hasn’t explained what changed in the following five years to move that to $250K $200K $150K $120K. Obama could have simply changed his mind, but the ambiguity surrounding Democratic talking points in the past few weeks suggests that his commitment to the higher income levels is tenuous at best.

Video: Middle class topped out at 70K in 2003, according to Obama

[bcp (Premo)]

with just a a family of three, mom, dad, youngun, 70k is going to be real hard to live on if you plan to do more than just eat and work.
college would almost be out of the question unless the kid got scholorships or was a minority.

[The_Twisted_Ear (Premo)]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

Would this be what Obama really thinks is the upper income limit of the middle class?

...with Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and their various surrogates having trouble finding the floor for tax cuts, perhaps more trenchant than it otherwise would be. In a 2003 interview while starting his Senate campaign, Obama said that tax cuts should have been targeted no higher than the $70K level

cwo_ghwebb - I can't wait to read how pissed off everyone (citizen's who voted for and believed Obama) are when they finally realize that Obama will say whatever it takes to become President. Once President - we will really find out what the "magic" middle-class number is...this should be very very interesting.

[cwo_ghwebb]

My step-son is head of household for a family of four. Their combined income is less than $40k/year. They qualify for absolutely no assistance (nor want it).

But starting next year the possibility of losing his job may be very probable as his employer has to pay double the unemployment insurance tax and cut employees.

[ImnoMensa]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

My step-son is head of household for a family of four. Their combined income is less than $40k/year. They qualify for absolutely no assistance (nor want it).

But starting next year the possibility of losing his job may be very probable as his employer has to pay double the unemployment insurance tax and cut employees.

Your stepson is one of millions in this country that will get crapped on by this lying sack of crap. Americans act like they have never heard campaign promises before.

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by The_Twisted_Ear

cwo_ghwebb - I can't wait to read how pissed off everyone (citizen's who voted for and believed Obama) are when they finally realize that Obama will say whatever it takes to become President. Once President - we will really find out what the "magic" middle-class number is...this should be very very interesting.

Another article along the same lines:

Washington Times - Obama camp changes tax-cut beneficiaries

"At this rate, it won't take long until Obama is again raising taxes on Americans making as little as $42,000 a year," said Alex Conant, the Republican National Committee's spokesman, referring to Mr. Obama's vote for a Democratic budget resolution that would have let most of President Bush's tax cuts expire, effectively raising income taxes on Americans making $41,500, according to FactCheck.org.

The Obama tax plan's descending income thresholds has not escaped the notice of Sen. John McCain's campaign, nor the RNC's army of researchers, who were sending out a drumbeat of press releases all week, monitoring the time and place of the Obama campaign's changing numbers. Among those changes:

-- In July: "If you make $250,000 a year or less, we will not raise your taxes. We will cut your taxes," Mr. Obama said in remarks at Powder Springs, Ga.

-- In October: "If you have a job, pay taxes and make less than $200,000 a year, you'll get a tax cut," Mr. Obama said in a TV ad titled "Defining Moment" that has been running across the country.

-- Last week: "What we're saying is that [Mr. Bush's tax cuts to the wealthy] ... should go to middle-class people - people making under $150,000 a year," said Mr. Biden in an interview with WNEP in Scranton, Pa.

-- Friday: Mr. Obama "is basically looking at $120,000 and under [as] among those that are in the middle class and there is a tax cut" for them, Mr. Richardson said on KOA-AM in Denver.

The Obama campaign's varying words on who would be eligible for Mr. Obama's tax cuts left economists Friday scratching their heads and wondering just who would benefit and who would not.

"Every time we look, his plan changes. Anything is possible," said McCain economic adviser Kevin Hassett at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Obama campaign denied moving away from the senator's original tax-cut plan. It said Friday that Mr. Richardson "simply misspoke" when he used the $120,000 figure and "meant to say people making less than $250,000 won't see their taxes increased." The statement said: "Senator Obama wouldn't raise taxes on families making less than $250,000."

However, other economic analysts said that the Obama campaign's declining income eligibility levels for his tax cuts raises troubling questions about Mr. Obama's promise to give tax cuts to 95 percent of all taxpayers.
"A lot of people may vote for Obama thinking they are going to get a tax cut are going to get a tax hike," said Phil Kerpen, director of policy at Americans for Prosperity, a free-market advocacy group.

"What is clearly going on here is the changing definition of what constitutes the middle class," said economist Bruce Bartlett, adding that "the vast majority of Americans say they are middle class and very few think of themselves as either rich or poor."

I think I already pay my 'fair share' of taxes! I don't think I'm poor nor rich, but at this point I have no idea what the socialists have in mind regarding taxing me more heavily.

Since they are going to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, they are starting from a higher tax rate from which to begin raising taxes.

[Beta84]

While I'm seeing some comments at numbers below $200k, Obama has not said below 200k and his commercial I saw yesterday said 200k. So the words out of his mouth have been 200k. Hopefully he won't toy with that number.

I have a feeling it'll be changed...but that'll be based on affordability. After he gets his other changes approved, he won't be able to pass tax cuts to 200k and lower if there isn't enough money to run that big government. So while the tax cuts sound nice, I doubt 200k will be the final number unless he cuts some of his other plans or pulls money out of something else...

[cwo_ghwebb]

Originally Posted by Beta84

While I'm seeing some comments at numbers below $200k, Obama has not said below 200k and his commercial I saw yesterday said 200k. So the words out of his mouth have been 200k. Hopefully he won't toy with that number.

I have a feeling it'll be changed...but that'll be based on affordability. After he gets his other changes approved, he won't be able to pass tax cuts to 200k and lower if there isn't enough money to run that big government. So while the tax cuts sound nice, I doubt 200k will be the final number unless he cuts some of his other plans or pulls money out of something else...

Words out of Obama's own mouth said $70K in 2003. I guess under Bush's failed economic policies the middle class has topped out from $70k in 2003 to $200k in 2008.

[Beta84]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

Words out of Obama's own mouth said $70K in 2003. I guess under Bush's failed economic policies the middle class has topped out from $70k in 2003 to $200k in 2008.

I was talking about the tax cuts that Obama has been discussing during his campaign...not his 2003 numbers on the middle class. Sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

[czygvtwkr]

Originally Posted by bcp

with just a a family of three, mom, dad, youngun, 70k is going to be real hard to live on if you plan to do more than just eat and work.
college would almost be out of the question unless the kid got scholorships or was a minority.

Depends where you live. My dad made about $45k a year and we lived a good life and he helped send me to college.

But 70k is no way the top of the middle class.