"The largest tax increase in history"

[NI4NI]

Today, and for more than six weeks, the new talking point I hear from every reptilian party member in the House who stands up and spouts the very same quote saying that the Democrats have passed "the largest tax increase in history".
I have yet to hear any Democrat representative debunk and refute them.
Can someone please tell me why the Dems don't challenge this damaging BS?

[Totally Committed]

1. Congratulations! You win today's prize for using the words "Democrats" and "challenge" in a sentence

........ it's the only place short of the Twilight Zone where those two things are likely to be related at present. They don't challenge because they are inept, wishy-washy, gutless wonders they have become and continue to be.

Something to look forward to, though: Hillary's probably polling on it at the moment, so we should have a wicked retort from her camp sometime by the end of the week.

TC

[Deep13]

2. Finally, some tax equity.

I'm sick of having to pay the Paris Hilton tax instead of the super rich. Besides, it is unpatriotic to deny the government what it needs to fight terrorism in a time of war!

[Totally Committed]

4. Why aren't they calling the damned Repubs on it, though?

This is at least some relief, and they are allowing the Republicans to FRAME IT yet again.

TC

[Deep13]

12. Best guess:

Habit of caution and lack of media availability.

[old guy]

15. I agree!!

The lack of media availability is the bane of their existence

[CrispyQ]

3. You silly!!

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. I've heard them!

Of course it was last night around 10:30 CST on CSPAN (LIVE!) with the thirtysomethingdems once again kicking ass and taking names. *sigh* Chances are pretty good that viewership was somewhere around 000,001 at that time of night.

[Double T]

6. We've got a BIG problem..........

No one to counterattack the rovian phrase of the day, week, month or campaign.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. This one isn't getting much momentum

as I think I've documented in this thread.

One congressman is asserting that the increase might amount to an additional 217 billion over five years. In a trillion-dollar-plus budget, I don't know how an increase of ~40 billion per year would be the "greatest in history," and that's taking these liars at their word.

[bunkerbuster1]

7. Well, step one: Search for references to that specific phrase

Use the google (news.google.com, to be precise) and put the phrase in quotation marks so you get links to sites that use it in those exact words. I only turned up six, and of those, two were lambasting righties for using this stupid phrase.

I suspect it isn't as hot a meme as you're making it out to be, although I do see Sean Hannijob is using it:

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/05/30/hannity_to_dick_morris_enough_with_the_hillarybashing.php

The closest I could find to justify this silliness came from this buffoon of a Congressman, at this rather sad-looking news site:

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2007/05/24/opinion/editorials/editorial01.txt

and I quote:

The spending excess in this budget is so great that it will send us into the red. It's so bad that the Democrats needed to increase the national debt limit to pay for their spending smorgasbord. A stealth provision in the budget raises the debt limit, or the government's credit line, by $850 billion dollars to a staggering $9.8 trillion dollars.

There is a saying that goes “if you find yourself in a hole the first thing you do is stop digging.” This kind of accounting shouldn't be used for the family budget let alone the national budget. When you max out a credit line, the responsible thing to do is to pay it down, not ask for a credit increase.

How bad is the tax increase in this budget? Try the second largest in American history to the tune of $217 billion over five years. That is, unless certain built-in spending triggers are reached that could send the tax hike as high as $400 billion, which would make it the largest tax increase in history.

Got that? If you can't poke holes in this pathetic argument, you probably shouldn't be arguing with right-tards at all.

[NI4NI]

10. Thanks for the reference. n/t

[stillcool]

11. thank you for taking the time..

to put this baby to bed...and in such a gentle way. Lesson learned.:thumbsup:

[Gregorian]

9. Paying for the illegal Iraq invasion was the biggest tax increase in history.

I think our best plan is to just let Яepublicans stay in office until the damage they do is evident to even the stupidest of Americans. But that would be cruel.

[Lobster Martini]

13. Another case of repeating a lie so often no one questions it

Listen, Republicans! The tax cuts were supposed to be temporary--that's what the Republican Congress passed, and what the Republican President signed! If your healthcare plan covers adrenaline, try it. Adrenaline improves memory.

Incidentally, the experiment showing that adrenaline improves memory was conducted, appropriately enough, on rats, several of which may have been electable in certain states.

[Warpy]

14. Ronald Asshole Reagan

raised FICA six times between 1983 and 1988, thereby pushing forth the largest tax increase in history that fell on the poorest of workers with no exemptions. Fully 50% of their FICA payments went into the general fund to be used along with the reduced income taxes the rich paid, the whole of the Reagan increases.

It was a back door tax increase on the poor of monumental proportions. It disproportionately hit the working class and the small businesses that employed them.

One thing a truly Democratic president and congress must do is either reduce these payments or get them out of the general fund.

Social Security was meant as a pay as you go insurance program. Using it to increase taxes on the poorest workers was cruel and immoral.