Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards proposed increasing tax cuts for the middle class. He would repeal Bush’s tax cuts on the upper tax brackets while creating new tax cuts for families and individuals making under $130,000.
No doubt the usual suspects will argue that Edwards wants to take away money for roads, schools, and health care and give it to the greedy middle class. Those who live in the real world would see some value to Edward’s proposals. Tax credits for home buying and other economic activities would certainly help. Unfortunately Edwards’ increases in capital gains and his efforts to raise the taxes of the "rich" would also hit many small business owners and other entrepreneurs. Still, it’s the first Democratic proposal I’ve yet seen that has more merit than harm. Unfortunately for Edwards, such a move will likely make him persona non grata with the liberal activists that have a stranglehold on the DNC.
I doubt there will much critcism at all. I would call this more a readjustment than a cut, which is what we needed all along. I’d like to see some statistics concerning his cut, but I’ll bet the total collected taxes should be about the same.
Keeping the budget funded while giving the tax relief to those who need it most. I call that responsible tax relief. Republicans will probably be fighting this far more than the ‘usual suspects’.
Edwards knows he needs a gimmick to stand out from the crowd, and has come up with one. Any talk of additional tax cuts at this point is nothing short of insanity, but if this proposal would produce a net gain to the treasury be revoking the current obese tax cuts targeted to the wealthy and redistributing the cuts to the middle class, it will at least be one rung better than our current course. I would be unlikely to support the plan, unless the new tax cuts would tally up far below the current tax cuts in overall dollar amounts.
Basically, Edwards wants to do the Clinton Readjustment all over again… which sounds good to me. Edwards strikes me as being Bill Clinton minus the foibles… considering how much I liked Billus Maximus, it’s small wonder that I like Edwards the most out of the current lineup of Dems… much more than charisma-less Kerry or “I’m left of McGovern, woot!” Dean.
Of course, I’m still waiting for Wesley Clark to enter the race.