An Obama 2012 win means Taxmageddon

(Washington Examiner) If American voters reelect President Obama, they have no right to complain when their taxes go up by $494 billion on January 1st. That is the total amount taxes are set to increase, automatically if Congress does not pass, and Obama does not sign, tax relief before December 31st of this year.

In the current edition of The New Yorker, Ryan Lizza reports that unlike 2010 and 2011, Obama is prepared to follow through on his threat to let taxes go up after he no longer has to face voters ever again: “Several White House officials I talked to made it clear that if a deal, or at least the framework of a deal, is not reached before December 31st Obama would allow all the Bush tax cuts to expire – a tactic that would achieve huge deficit reduction, but in a particularly painful and ill-conceived fashion.”

Separately, firedoglake‘s David Dayen reports that Senate Democrats are also preparing to allow Taxmageddon to occur on schedule. ”You can’t give up your leverage in advance,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, added that the caucus “needs to do what we need to do. I’m not so willing to compromise this time.”

The choice for voters this fall is clear: vote for Obama and suffer a $494 billion across-the-board tax increase, or vote for the Republican and end the Taxmageddon threat.

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