Palin: Obama's "Phony" Tax Plan Is Unraveling

By: Scott Conroy
Topics: Sarah Palin

(CBS)

From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

(YORK, PA.) - For the second day in a row, Sarah Palin focused the entirety of her attacks against Barack Obama on the Democratic nominee's tax plan, rather than his personal associations.

"Just yesterday, we learned that America's GDP actually fell in the third quarter of this year, and that confirms what we already know, and that's that our economy right now is shrinking," Palin said. "This is the worst possible time to raise taxes, but Barack Obama still wants to."

Palin repeated her mantra that Obama has "an ideological commitment" that compels him to raise taxes.

"Now, his whole tax plan, really, it is, it's so phony that it's already starting to unravel, and we're gonna call it the way that we see it," she said.

Palin said that Obama's definition of what constitutes the middle class seems to be evolving.

"And just this morning, Gov. Bill Richardson, a top surrogate for the Obama campaign, he who is working so hard to get Obama elected, Richardson said Obama's tax plan would define middle class as $120,000 a year and under," Palin said. "So now, we're down to less than half the original income level and, just give it a little more time, and Barack Obama will be back to raising taxes on folks earning $42,000 a year."

Appearing on KOAM radio this morning, Richardson said, "What Obama wants to do is he is basically looking at $120,000 and under among those that are in the middle class, and there is a tax cut for those," according to a YouTube clip of the interview.

Richardson's comments appear to have been a slip of the tongue, since the Obama campaign has not announced that it has changed its policy that everyone making less than $200,000 a year would get a tax cut and no one making under $250,000 a year would be burdened with a tax increase.

Scott Conroy
Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.
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by ade7-2009 November 3, 2008 1:02 PM EST: Come on people! McCain and Palin are really twisting the facts here!

Obama has said throughout the campaign that families making less than $250,000 a year will not see a tax increase. Those making less than $200,000 will get a tax cut, he says. "If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up," Obama said during an October 7 presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee. "If you make $200,000 a year or less, your taxes will go down."

Biden was speaking Monday, October 27, in an interview with WNEP in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He said, "(An) $87 billion tax break doesn''t need to go to people making an average of $1.4 million. It should go like it used to. It should go to middle class people %u2014 people making under $150,000 a year." Biden never says that tax breaks should "only" go to such people. The Obama campaign says he was merely using that figure as an example and that the statement does not represent a change in policy.

What McCain and Palin are doing here, in part, is comparing apples and oranges. They compare two different aspects of Obama''s tax plan as if they were the same. And Biden never said people making less than $150,000 are the "only" people who would get a tax cut under Obama''s policies.

Please -- open your eyes and don''t be fooled by the McCain-Palin Bush tactics of fear, lies, and deception.; Reply to this comment


by markjob44 November 2, 2008 1:35 AM EST: By the time Obama is done who is going to benefit from his tax cuts for the "middle class". Will it just be the working adults behind the cash register at Mcdonald''s, or Walmart or maybe those of us who went to college, worked hard, and are currently paying for our student loans? First it was individuals making under 250,000, then it was families making under 200,000, then Senator Biden said anyone under 150,000, then a comment was made about families making under 120,000. This in just a few short weeks; Reply to this comment


by dibs977 November 1, 2008 7:44 PM EDT: Stop with the Tax and spend thing. You''ve got to be kidding---with the mess and corruption of the Republicans and the horrible condition of our economy--get real. Stop with all the lies about Obama. Obama and Joe can lead us out of this corruption and to peace and prosperity.; Reply to this comment


by birdyspice7 November 1, 2008 2:33 PM EDT: @razrback44--- or she reminds us of that wicked old lady down the street that screamed at us to stay off her lawn. sorry but, she''s kind of old. what are you talking about?; Reply to this comment


by boigarny November 1, 2008 12:54 PM EDT: Palin on CNN: "that One" won! http://ncane.com/5n5 - She said that now it is obvious result of the company. Highly recommended!!!!; Reply to this comment


by AVPro November 1, 2008 12:54 PM EDT: Poor Sarah Palin. If the press didn''t report her dumb statements she wouldn''t get any press at all.

As for the GOP tax plan...The public is own to the phony trickle down ideology. Capital gains reduction? Little gain for the middle class huge gain for the rich. Since Reagan the GOP has been shifting the tax burden from the rich to the middle class. It''s time to shift it back. The phony assumption that the rich will use their windfall to create good paying job has been exposed as a lie.; Reply to this comment


by razrback44 November 1, 2008 12:52 PM EDT: And I still have a bridge for sell. Bill Richardson yesterday said the level was 120K. They need to have a team meeting, just pick a number, and stick to it.
Last week from Barney: Will have to cut military spending 25% and WILL have to raise taxes.
From Schumer last week: OB did not mean he could cut them right away. Would have to over 4 years.
Plays right into the apparently correct reporting by London Times:
OB''s camp is very concerned that they will not be able to deliver quickly enough to keep Dems hopes from turning to despair.
Listen very carefully (to the words) to OB''s speech in Iowa yesterday. There is one sentence in there re tax cuts that things are not going to happen as planned.
Axlerod, I thought Rove was good. You are the master. You have pulled the biggest tax hoax on the American poor in this country''s history.
Party of Change. It changes everyday.; Reply to this comment


by pinktoenails-2009 November 1, 2008 12:41 PM EDT: It is and has always been the case that under Barack Obama%u2019s plan, those making less than $200,000 a year will get a tax cut, those making less than $250,000 a year will not have their taxes raised at all, and for the few who make more than $250,000, their tax rates will go back to the levels they were during the Clinton administration. This has not changed, though it seems to utterly confuse the McCain folks.

At a campaign event, Joe Biden told the crowd that those who make under $150,000 should be getting their taxes cut. Which, of course, under the Obama plan, they would! No controversy there. If anything, Biden undersold the tax cut by mentioning %u201C$150,000%u201D rather than %u201C$200,000.%u201D The McCain campaign, however, falsely claimed that this indicated a change in policy for Obama, and that it meant Obama%u2019s definition of %u201Crich%u201D was getting lower. This is, of course, utter nonsense. They know this is not true, but we understand, as things are getting pretty desperate for them.; Reply to this comment


by razrback44 November 1, 2008 11:32 AM EDT: Dang it, looks like Palin really has this crowd in a frenzy. Upsets me that she has pulled the focus away from the real danger to this country..Obama and company..who are pulling the largest tax hoax on the poor this country has ever seen.
All I can figure out is that this woman (1) reminds some women of the girl who stole their high school sweetheart, (2) reminds some men of the girls they could never get a date with, and/or (3) ticked some guys off because she stole the guy they were after.
Whatever. Doggone it, Palin, keep firing. Heck, these folks might be dead from a heart attack by the time you get thru. Go Girl.; Reply to this comment


by veganri November 1, 2008 8:59 AM EDT: This from a woman who could not even name one magazine she reads.

The real Wasilla, mayor job is ceremonial. Current mayor cousin of Palin:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188638&title=understanding-real-america-in; Reply to this comment