Obama relying on lame ducks to increase taxes after election

The CBO this month provided some more bad news for Americans and good news for those pushing tax hikes. It released a report indicating the federal government took in $1.6 trillion and spent $2.6 trillion in just the first nine months of the fiscal year. That’s a deficit of $1 trillion in a mere nine months. Do you now understand why President Obama is pushing for a special session of Congress—after the elections—to raise taxes?

Obama was smart in the way he set up his commission. It reports to Congress on December 1. Congressmen who were voted out of office in November for excessive government spending will be allowed to stick it to the taxpayers one more time by voting for massive tax increases, and, since they’re already unemployed, they’ll face no electoral consequences.

The President told his commission that “everything has to be on the table.” Translated, this means the commission needs to marry small, symbolic spending cuts with higher taxes on the average American. In testimony before the commission, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggested a carbon tax to raise money. Others want a value-added tax. A VAT is essentially a hidden national sales tax that could raise the federal tax bite by 25% or more. Both of these proposals would hit lower-income people who are looking for jobs. Taxpayers should worry that lame-duck politicians, lacking all accountability, will make one last effort for team Obama and raise taxes.