82% Obama Voters Will Vote To Reelect Him If He Raises Taxes On The Rich

[vroomvroom]

I am not the happiest person with Obama and frankly find his never-ending fetish for center-right gift giving a total turnoff. But if he can at least stand strong on this one issue where he raises taxes on the rich (tax cuts expiring is not the same thing), and even if he loses that fight (its the "fighting" that is important) then i too would be happy to vote to re-elect him. Until then i dunno..i honestly wish there was a genuine primary challenger like Russ Feingold in the wings.

I will never vote republican but seeing as how Obama have qualities of one i just cant come to terms with voting for him and would need something like this on the table (taxing the rich) and actually FIGHT FOR IT before i can regain my confidence that i am actually voting for a democrat.

Article: http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-2012-taxes-rich

[dkf]

1. Have you noticed he can't do this by himself?

Geez Louise.

[Mr Deltoid]

21. No

All he has to do is nothing and the Bush tax cuts magically expire.

[Bake]

34. So he automatically drops back and punts.

And you all whine how "he can't do this by himself."

That's why I'll be working to elect REAL DEMOCRATS to Congress in 2012.

Obama? He gets my vote but not much else.

Bake

[gateley]

2. How is tax cuts not expiring the same thing? It would

achieve the same end and not open it up for "bipartisan negotiation". I think it would be preferable. :shrug:

[golfguru]

6. If Bush taxcuts expire, WE ALL PAY MORE

the Bush taxcuts included substantial taxcuts for middle class
and lower income class.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. the tax code needs to changed to the ultra rich and catch offshore tax dodgers

[golfguru]

24. The BEST tax reform will look like this..

No deductions, no loopholes, tax will be based on Gross income.

Incomes over $500,000 per year will pay 25%
From $100,000 to $500,000 will pay 15% tax.
Those under $100,000 will pay 10%.

Example: Family income $700,000
First 100,000 will be taxed 10,000
100,000-500,000 will be taxed 60,000
over 500,000 will be taxed 50,000
Total tax = $120,000

No deductions for mortgage, donations, kids, or anything else.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

25. have to find a way to stop loopholes so that multimillionaires seem to use

using companies or trusts to tax dodge personal tax.

[Cosmocat]

26. I don't know the math well enough ...

to know if that works in terms of funding for government, but I can tell you that kind of progressive system with no loopholes has 0% of ever even going up for a vote - we could have the uber wet dream fantasy progressive president, a 100 vote advantage in the House and 70-30 advantage in the Senate, which is NEVER going to happen, and you would not see anything close to this kind of tax reform.

Sorry, even a dem majority in both chambers won't get close it, cause too many are bought by the same people who own the republicans in total - see, HCR with the greatest dem majorities we are likely to see in our lives, and single payer not even being put into play.

I know to many democrats, that is because BO did not sit in the white house lawn and hold his breathe till he passed out, but here in the real world, the same forces that screamed SOCIALISM and government run medical care would drum up the same nonsense with any kind of substantive tax reform.

Frankly, any kind of sweeping reform is going to regressive in nature, IF there is enough impetus in congress to do it, it WILL favor the rich and corporations ...

[golfguru]

31. Actually my tax reform proposal encourages capitalism but is also fair

Right now the corporations with the best lobbyists get the tax
breaks, not necessarily the most productive. A tax system without
loopholes gives every one a fair shot at success. It rewards the
most productive and thus expands business activity and jobs to follow.

For example look at GE....they did hundreds of Billions in sales and
paid no tax. That is so ridiculous. A tax based on gross sales would
have netted the US Treasury Billions from GE. What GE did not pay in
their fair share had to be made up by others.

[Cosmocat]

32. It may ...

It isn't going to happen ...

Again, not even an extreme democratic majority in both chambers with a democratic president would get a tax system anything close to what you are offering ...

I get it, it is progressive, but ...

[Shrek]

33. Huntsman is proposing something close to that

His rates are 8%, 14% and 23%, but like you he wants to get rid of "all tax expenditures, all loopholes, all deductions, all subsidies, all corporate welfare.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/us/politics/01huntsman.html

[Mr Deltoid]

22. And the economy achieves primary balance in about 4 years

Problem solved.

[Cosmocat]

27. Sadly ...

letting the bush tax cuts expire is the VERY best we can hope for ...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The problem is that he CAN'T raise taxes on the rich. He can't change the tax code

at all. Only Congress can do that; it requires the enacting of a federal statute and the President does not have that power. Obama has consistently been advocating for increasing the tax rate on the wealthy, but he can't make it happen without Congress.

[Sirveri]

8. The fight is still important. To try but fail is sometimes more important

than to not try at all.

[ClassWarrior]

19. Obama said his grandmother taught him that.

According to another DUer in a recent post, the President was on C-Span the other day, and he said something very prescient that his grandmother told him. "Some fights aren't worth fighting even if you win, and some fights are worth fighting even if you lose."

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

18. You're right. We need a better Congress. I'm going to campaign for Congressional Dems instead of...

...Obama this cycle.

NGU.

[Exilednight]

28. He could have raised taxes on the rich right before the midterms. He could have

let the Bush tax cuts fully expire and send legislation piece by piece to Congress to reinstate low income and middle-class cuts.

[nevergiveup]

4. You need to throw your lot with Governor Goodhair.

I am sure he will raise taxes on the rich.

[Dragonfli]

7. You don't scare me, I have just been told a President can't do much of anything,

So Good hair can't touch us if people are stupid enough to vote for him.

Me? I only vote for Democrats and progressives, meaning unless there is a primary or Obama changes his 90's Republican think tank ideas, I will have to write in at least one spot on the ticket.

You can vote right wing all you want.



By the way, I have not been fooled by the exodus of republicans from their party to mine via Third way DLC Republican ideology.

[nevergiveup]

9. It has nothing to do with scaring anyone but

the fact is, if you are a progressive and write in someone other than Obama for president you have in reality helped the Republican idiot running for president. You can spin it however you wish but if progressives abandon the president at the polls we get a Republican president and likely loose the Senate and no way win back the house. We have a total Tea Party government. Revenge is a sweet thing. Sugar with your tea?

[Dragonfli]

11. Supporting false flag Republicans is not going to help, it only weakens opposition in congress to

Republican priorities, they do more damage from within the party than from within their own.

Like I said, I don't vote for Republicans so I may not have a choice on the ballot for the top of the ticket.

[Exilednight]

29. There was a point when we had the House, Senate, and WH, and Obama still

couldn't pass legislation without succumbing to Republican demands.

[grahamhgreen]

5. "Forty one percent of respondents said that they would be less likely support his reelection...

campaign if Obama cuts government programs, and 21% said that they would be more likely to support him in 2012. Thirty two percent said that it made no difference in their support if the president cut government programs. Over 2/3 of Obama voters (67%) said that they would be less likely to support him in 2012 if he cuts Social Security or Medicare.

It is clear what Obama voters want. They want entitlements left alone, and they want a big jobs plan that doesn’t compromise with the GOP. It looks like his voters are willing to stick by him as long as he goes big, and leaves entitlements out of the discussion.

Barring a big jobs plan, there is one more thing that Obama can do to keep his 2008 supporters solidly in his camp.

President Obama can raise taxes on the rich. By a whopping margin of 82%-5%, Obama voters said that they would be more likely to support the president in 2012 if he raised taxes on the rich and closed the corporate loopholes. This support was across the board. 82% of men and 81% of women said that taxing the rich would make them more likely to support the president in 2012. By age, 84% of those 35-49, 85% of those 50-64, and 87% of seniors said that that taxing the rich would boost their support for Obama. (The percentage of support for tax increases on the wealthy seems to grow with age, because many of these people know that raising revenue works. They have seen it work before)."

[dionysus]

10. ok graham, now explain to us how to pass that through a teabagging House.

[great white snark]

12. BULLY PULPIT!!!

Expect that or some other unreasonable answer.

Thank you so much for asking the correct question dionysus.

:thumbsup:

[JoePhilly]

14. That would just be a "pretty speech"

Watch out, you don't want to get crushed by an out of control moving goal post!!

:rofl:

[CakeGrrl]

13. Oh, there you go asking a reality-based question.

Don't expect an answer.

[grahamhgreen]

16. To raise taxes on the rich, all he had to do was to do nothing, and the cuts would have expired.

[Fearless]

15. I've come to realize he's not caving to Republicans. He's doing what be believes is right.

That is the only logical reason for why he is not fighting back.

[Hawkowl]

30. He's doing what he thinks is politically expedient

It is obvious that he sees all things through one lens: How does this benefit my re-election?.

I don't think he has a moral code, or a set of values that he uses to evaluate decisions. I think he has that supremely lawyerly mindset where he can argue any issue from both sides completely amorally. He simply figures, correctly or not, how much votes and campaign contributions, is a particular decision or policy going to cost him, and decides in his own interests.

He is not suited for the presidency.

[notGaryOldman]

17. 82% ?

Assuming the Repub candidate holds the McCain vote, that won't be enough, I'm sorry to say.

[craigmatic]

23. He won't do it because that's where he gets his campaign money. Small donors aren't going to

donate in 2012 like they did in 08. His whole agenda so far has been to try to reconcile wallstreet and labor but in reality you have to pick a side. He not only doesn't have the power to tax the rich in the house but he lacks the political will to do it also.

[Bake]

35. Hell, I'd be thrilled if he'd fight for just this one thing.

But I think he's got a lot of quit in him.

Bake