At least according to Obama. He thinks I’m rich because between my wife and I make over $75,000 a year!!
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama went after the “We’re not paying enough taxes to the government†vote today during a television interview in New York.
First, he said the Bush tax cuts ought to die. He likes that top marginal rate of 39%. Although the non-partisan National Journal recently declared him the most liberal of the 100 senators, Obama denied being a “wild-eyed liberal,†which wasn’t what the Journal called him, but it sounds good on TV where everything moves by so quickly.
Maria Bartiromo on CNBC’s “Closing Bell†asked, “Who should pay more and who should pay less?†Predictably, the politician chose to talk about who would benefit from his higher tax plan, not who would get socked the hardest. But from his answers it sounds like the “wealthy†in his mind are those making more than $75,000.
“I would not increase taxes for middle class Americans and in fact I want to…. provide a tax cut for people who are making $75,000 a year or less,†he said. “For those folks, I want an offset on the payroll tax that would be worth as much as $1,000 for a family.
If he is going to lump people like me into the “rich” catagory, he’s gonna get smoked in the election. (Which it appears that is going to happen, barring some sort of classic McCain meltdown.) He is already losing to McCain in head to head match-ups. (It’s too early to trust those kind of polls though.)
UPDATE: Maybe he means $75,000 a person.. so $150,000 total… If that’s the case, then, damn, I’m not rich. Though personally I don’t think $150,000 should be considered rich anyway.
