Update: Taxes, taxes everywhere and not a job in sight and when is a stimulus not a stimulus? When it creates no jobs and you tax the crap out of people…

ZOMG! What are these people thinking?! They sold Obama as a Clinton Like Pro Business Moderate Dem. Ha I say HA! AS IF!!!!

Tell me that doesnt look like Joe Biden all the way on the right? Remember when 100 billion dollars was a lot of money?:

WSJ:

…A huge new income surtax. The bill’s main financing comes from another tax increase on top of the increase already scheduled for 2011 under Mr. Obama’s budget. The surtax starts at one percentage point for adjusted gross income above $350,000 in 2011, rising to two points in 2013; a 1.5 point surtax at incomes above $500,000, rising to three in 2013; and a whopping 5.4 percentage points in 2011 and beyond on incomes above $1 million.

This would raise the top marginal federal tax rate back to roughly 47% or 48%, if you include the Medicare tax and the phase-out of certain deductions and exemptions. With the current top rate at 35%, this would be the largest rate increase outside the Great Depression or world wars.

The average U.S. top combined state-federal marginal tax rate would hit about 52%. This would be higher than in all but three (Denmark, Sweden, Belgium) of the 30 countries measured by the OECD. According to the nearby table compiled by the Heritage Foundation, taxpayers in at least five U.S. states would pay higher marginal rates even than Sweden. South Korea, which Democrats worry is stealing American jobs, would be able to grab even more as its highest rate is a far more competitive 38.5%.

House Democrats say they deserve credit for being honest about the tax increases needed to fund their ambitions. But then they also claim that this surtax would raise $544 billion in new revenue over 10 years. America’s millionaires aren’t that stupid; far fewer of them will pay these rates for very long, if at all. They will find ways to shelter income, either by investing differently or simply working less. Small businesses that pay at the individual rate will shift to pay the 35% corporate rate. When the revenue doesn’t materialize, Democrats will move to soak the middle class with a European-style value-added tax.

Practice your ‘European’ style living now. I will go with Germany..dance Dieter dance!!

The new payroll taxes and penalties in the health care proposal:

…A new payroll tax. Unemployment is at 9.5% and rising, but Democrats will nonetheless impose a new eight percentage point payroll tax on employers who don’t provide health insurance for employees. This is on top of the current 15% payroll tax, and in addition to a new 2.5-percentage point tax on individuals who don’t buy health insurance. This means that any employer with more than $400,000 in payroll would have to pay at least 25% above the salary to hire someone. Result: Many fewer new jobs, with a higher structural jobless rate, much as Europe has experienced as its welfare states have expanded.

Other new taxes, including an as yet undetermined levy on private health plans. This tax, which Democrats say could raise $100 billion or so, would make it even harder for private plans to compete with the government plan, which would already benefit from government subsidies and lower capital costs. For good measure, the House bill also gets the ball rolling on tax increases on foreign-source corporate income….

In other age old philosophical questions, when is a stimulus NOT a stimulus? When Team TOTUS, who said we would see IMMEDIATE results from the stimulus, is now saying it worked as expected and was NOT supposed to work right away..Uhmm wha? Ed at HotAir has it covered

…Old White House spin: Porkulus has stimulated the economy and “saved or created” 150,000 jobs.  New White House spin: Stimulus?  What stimulus?  ABC’s Yunji de NIes reports from somewhere down the rabbit hole, er, the White House briefing room:

Turns out the $787 billion “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (AARA) was not designed for full economic recovery, but rather to “stabilize” the downturn.  That’s the word from White House officials today, who held off-camera briefings with reporters on how the AARA is working so far.

“This legislation was designed to cushion the downturn,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “That’s why we have always talked about this as one function of economic recovery.”

When pressed about the change in terminology, Gibbs said he was not trying to temper expectations after the fact….

Update: Via HA, House GOP Conference releases this video last night on the stimulus:

July 17, 2009. Tags: Austin Powers, deficit, Dr Evil, Economy, Obama Budget, Obama deficit spending, Obama Energy Plan, Obama Health care plan, Obama Stimulus, Obama Tax Plan, recession, Taxes. Economy, Finance, Obama Administration, Politics, Taxes, Unemployment Statistics, Wall St. 1 comment.