OPINION:
Apparently President Obama did not get the message that he and his party were trounced in the November elections. By handing the Senate to the Republicans and providing a larger GOP majority in the House, the American people voted for divided government, meaning that they want either gridlock or cooperation and production. I believe their overwhelming support for Republicans signifies an interest in the latter, yet one would not know it from the way the president is behaving.
The waste of time and foolish exercise in pomp and pomposity that the State of the Union Address has become is evident in what Mr. Obama will propose within it, including to impose another massive capital gains tax increase on high earners and to enact a massive expansion of the child tax credit to $3000 for those under the age of five.
History tells us that increasing the tax on capital gains to an unrealistic level, which is what the president’s plan for a boost to 28 percent would be, causes investors to hold onto their assets, depriving the government of the revenue it naively believes it will receive through the proposal.
Why does the administration bend over backward to reward individuals for having children? It is not only families with children that are in need of a break; rather, it is the entire middle class. The best way to achieve that would be through tax simplification and reform, a pipe dream in the current political climate.
Proposing to hike the capital gains tax to follow other tax increases that the Obama administration has enacted, including within the “Affordable” Care Act, is like waving red in front of a bull. It is dead before arrival, but I suppose if it helps to stimulate Democratic partisans and produce some standing ovations from one side of the aisle, it is worth it to our leader.
OREN M. SPIEGLER
Upper Saint Clair, Pa.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.