Non Socialist

August 6, 2009 | By Amanda Reinecker

The national deficit stands at an unprecedented $1.845 trillion. President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would increase spending by an additional $1 trillion over the next 10 years. And that doesn’t take into account Congress’ proposed $1 trillion takeover of the health care system.

With all this spending, millions of Americans are left wondering who’s going to pay for it all.

The answer: Taxpayers, big and small.

The President has repeatedly reiterated his campaign promise that he can rein in the deficit without levying any new taxes on the middle class. Instead, he proposes to saddle the wealthy with the bulk of the burden of increased spending by hiking taxes to where they were before the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. This would bring the top federal tax rate to almost 40 percent, not counting the proposed surtax on high-income earners to fund the health care plan.

Despite the President’s insistence that he remains “clearly committed” to his campaign promise, Heritage tax policy expert Curtis Dubay points out how the middle class could end up paying anyway:

We’ve heard taxes proposed on sugary drinks and alcoholic drinks. Of course, middle-class people purchase those items. Let’s not forget that the cap-and-trade program pushed heavily by President Obama falls on anyone who uses electricity, so that obviously hits the middle-class as well. And one of the first actions that President Obama took as President was to increase the cigarette tax by a dollar a pack. And of course, middle- and low-income people are hit heavily by that tax as well.

In another analysis, Dubay argues that the Left’s soak-the-rich approach will only dig the economy deeper into recession by discouraging investors and entrepreneurs from entering the market. This will “negatively affect long-term economic growth because businesses that otherwise would have been created and added jobs to the economy will never get off the starting blocks.”

Furthermore, these taxes alone would not generate enough to account for the massive spending increases. And the middle class could pay the price.

“You just can’t borrow a trillion dollars for an economic stimulus, enact a new trillion dollar health care entitlement, and increase discretionary spending by 12% through 2019 (including doubling federal education spending), and then expect to pay for it all by taxing the most productive Americans,” writes Heritage’s Conn Carroll in the Morning Bell.

There are lots of mythical benefits from tax increases, yet the Left seems determined to learn their lesson the hard way—during a recession, no less.

There is an alternative. Dubay outlines ways in which the President and Congress could cut spending and taxes, foster individual enterprise and ultimately spur significant economic growth. Otherwise, he says, we’re just “hurting the economy at a time when the U.S. can least afford further damage.”

Five questions to ask your Congressmen on health care

As members of Congress break for their August recess, many have planned to host town hall discussions on health care. “This country deserves a respectful, honest debate about health care,” Conn Carroll writes in The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell. “And the hundreds of town halls members of Congress will be hosting across the country this August are just the place for these conversations to happen.”

» FreedomWorks has compiled a list of town hall meetings. Find a meeting near you.

To help concerned citizens prepare for the town hall discussions, The Heritage Foundation has constructed a list of five important questions that the proposal’s proponents need to answer.

1. Can you promise me that I will not lose my current plan and doctor?

1. Will members of Congress enroll in the public plan?

1. Can you guarantee that Obamacare will not lead to higher deficits in the long term?

1. Will there be rationing of health care for patients on the public plan?

1. Can you promise that my tax dollars will not fund abortions?

» Get talking points, in-depth analysis and more on Heritage’s rapid response page

The heated town hall meetings of the past week have already demonstrated the broad public opposition to big-government health care. As one University of Pennsylvania professor tells Politico, this movement could present a political problem for the Left. “If this comes down to vocal individuals, the Obama campaign ought to be able to always outnumber their opponent. And if they’re not, then that’s a problem.”

Host a 33 Minutes screening

You can host a screening of Heritage’s feature-length documentary on missile defense, 33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age.

The threat to America hasn’t changed, nor has the need to defend the American people. Yet the Obama Administration plans to significantly cut and roll back a missile defense plan that has been in place for years to protect us–without having a serious national discussion on this issue. The Heritage Foundation is working get this discussion back on the table and you can help by hosting a screening of our film. We’ll supply you with all the materials you need to host an effective, informative and enjoyable event.

   » Watch the 33 Minutes trailer and apply to host a screening

> Other Heritage work of note

• The Heritage Foundation has been a strong presence in the health care debates. In July alone, our experts conducted over 130 television and radio interviews on health care, while our FixHealthCarePolicy.com Web site has become a go-to resource for lawmakers and the media.

• Unlike so much of the rest of the world, America “inherited a framework for resolving our differences according to shared principles and practices of constitutional government,” writes Heritage’s Jennifer Marshall. Unfortunately, these principles are often misused and disregarded, endangering our nation’s ability to address these differences, explains Marshall, who oversees Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society. These “cultural minefields” manifest themselves today in debates over school choice and public health care, where progressive proposals threaten an individual’s freedom to support only those causes they believe in.

• During his presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama promised a better foreign policy in Latin America. However, Heritage foreign policy expert Peter Brookes condemns the administration’s “‘Have a Coke and Smile’ brand of foreign policy.” This policy has led to increasingly strained relations south of the border, while the likes of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez continue to build anti-American coalitions.

• “[Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates’ approach to the defense authorization bill recently pushed through Congress is riddled with ‘old think,’” writes Heritage homeland security expert James Carafano in an article for the Washington Examiner. The defense plan reflects the Cold War philosophy that America’s enemies are “predictable” and therefore easily written into the defense budget. But this doesn’t account for unexpected and potentially more sophisticated attacks. “Enemies who really want to kill you prepare for the kinds of battles that you don’t want to [or aren't prepared to] fight,” Carafano warns

> In other news

• The Senate has confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination, 68-31, making her the first Hispanic on the high court.

• The House of Representatives has endorsed, and the Senate is expected to pass, a $2 billion extension of the “cash for clunkers” spending program. Under the program, Americans who buy certain government-approved cars are given up to $4,500 to destroy their used cars.

• The courts are again getting involved in policies properly left to lawmakers, in this case public safety and spending. Citing the need to improve prisoner health, “a panel of federal judges ordered the California prison system on Tuesday to reduce its inmate population.”

• Russian nuclear submarines have recently been spotted off the American coast for the first time in more than a decade.

• The abortion battle may again be decisive politically as more information comes to light about the President’s public health care plan. Many socially-conservative liberal lawmakers would hesitate to support the legislation if the final version expands public support for abortions.

> Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage’s website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.

• On Monday, August 10 at noon, Heritage will screen the new documentary Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous than Global Warming Itself.

Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, contributed to this report.