When faced with the option of remaking Social Security or raising taxes, he chooses higher taxes:
WASHINGTON — Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that if elected he will push to increase the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security benefits.
Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates previously have signaled support for this idea.
But during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama said subjecting more of a person’s income to the payroll tax is the option he would push for if elected president.
He objected to benefit cuts or a higher retirement age.
“I think the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and people who are in need are protected,” the Illinois senator said.
“That is the option that I will be pushing forward.”
Currently, only the first $97,500 of a person’s annual income is taxed. The amount is scheduled to rise to $102,000 next year.
Obama’s proposal could include a gap or “doughnut hole” to shield middle-income earners from paying more in taxes, he said.
So much for that whole new ideas thing Barack.
November 13th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Barack Obama is getting cautious, just like any other contender who begins to creep up in polls, and start becoming “viable”.
There is absolutely no reason not to remove the cap on income subject to Social Security taxation, or at least raise it. Why it was not indexed to inflation, or average per capita income, is a mystery to me.
A week before Barack criticized Hillary Clinton for not being evasive on her answer on the NY state drivers’ licenses. I have no idea why and how Hillary flubbed that innocuous question about what the governor of NY state is proposing (which three other four other states have already implemented), but the evasiveness with which Barack answered Tim Russert’s questions about his proposed solution to the far more substantive Social Security question is far more revealing of his caution-creep.
Sunday morning on meet the Press, Barack punted with the best of them.