Chamblee54

PG received a forwarded chain email. The first line was “I think this is bullshit, do you know any way to confirm?” Here is the text. “On Monday, September 7, 2015 10:37 PM, Gullible Gus wrote: I trust this info is true. Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message:”
“As a brief reminder for those who forgot or for many that didn’t know. Here is what happened,quietly, on January 1, 2015. Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%. Top Income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%. Top Income payroll tax went from 37.4% to 52.2%. Capital Gains tax went from 15% to 28%. Dividend tax went from 15% to 39.6%. Estate tax went from 0% to 55%. A 3.5% Real Estate transaction tax was added.
Remember this fact: These taxes were all passed solely with Democrat votes, Not a single Republican voted for these new taxes. These taxes were all passed in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. If you think that it is important that everyone in the U.S. should know this, the many millions who don’t yet, then pass it on.”
The phrase “These taxes were all passed in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.” was pasted into google. Before you could say fox news hairdo, there were 97k results. Snopes rated the email a “mixture” of truth and fiction. The example email used by Snopes, received August 2014, began “Those that think this is the way to improve the economy might as well delete now.”
Politifact rated the email “Pants on Fire.” Factcheck.org titled their version Return of the False Tax Claims. Most of these tax increases were included in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. This instrument was passed, with bi-partisan support, by the lame duck Congress after the 2012 elections. So much for “not a single Republican.” Maybe all the Republicans who voted for ATRA were married.
What the message does not mention is whether of not the tax increase was sufficient. The current budget deficit is estimated to be $474 b. This is almost a trillion dollars less than the $1,413 b in 2009. The national debt is estimated to be $18.1 t. A trillion here, a trillion there, and soon you are talking about real money. Saint Ronnie didn’t think big enough.
The email PG received had a post script. “You know, when Senator Isakson was here, why wasn’t Congressman Bishop with him in bi-partisan support for Ft Benning?” An inefficient military is the number one reason for runaway government spending. And yet, in this message decrying taxation, the local congressman is denounced for not bringing home the bacon. If you are going to cut spending, you have to start somewhere. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.