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In reply to the discussion: FAIL. Obama LOWERED Capital Gains Tax from 40% to 20%! [View all]BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)When I pointed out on numerous occasions that Obama had every intention to capitulate on that point, the usual peanut gallery here said "Oh you should just trust Obama. Don't criticize until after he has already given it away." (I always found the argument quite peculiar that you not should raise your voice until after there is no point in expressing opposition.)
This should not have come as a surprise to anybody, not even our gallery of see-no-evil, hear-no-evil types here. Obama was extraordinarily careful to use language that talked about the "tax rate", thinking that he was cleverly excluding capital gains and dividends. Then he even went farther and, instead of talking about the Clinton rates, he started saying "the rich should pay 'a little more'".
And that is exactly what happened. They pay only a tiny bit more. It is estimated at a total of $60 billion a year, but that is bogus because the rich will just get more aggressive at sheltering their income, and the package does nothing to clamp down on abusive shelters.