WSJ exposes Obama tax cut scheme

Shades of Bill Clinton.

The Wall Street Journal examines Sen. Barack's oft-repeated claim that he will cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans.

It's not happening, according to the nation's premiere business newspaper.

The reference to Bill Clinton has to do with the newspaper's sub-head: "It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is." And let's also not forget that Bill Clinton promised a tax cut while running for office, but once elected president, raised taxes on most Americans.

From today's edition of The Wall Street Journal:

One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.

It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."

For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase "tax credit."

Read the full editorial, "Obama's 95% Illusion" at the newspaper's Web site.