WSJ's Strassel Baselessly Claims Obama “Moved The Goalposts” On Ending Tax Cuts For Rich

Written by Terry Krepel

Published

strasselWall Street Journal editorial board member Kimberley Strassel claimed that President Obama has “moved the goalposts” by calling for ending the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of taxpayers -- despite the fact that Obama has advocated for that policy in both his 2012 and 2008 presidential campaigns.

On the November 18 edition of Fox News Sunday, Strassel criticized Obama for supposedly insisting that tax rates on upper-income taxpayers must rise to the level they were during the Clinton administration as part of a deficit reduction plan, stating, “The president has now moved the goalposts and said, 'Well, it isn't just revenue, it has to be a specific kind.' ” When host Chris Wallace pointed out that Obama “did mention this once or twice during the campaign,” Strassel responded, “Yeah, he did, except for the question is, are you going to stick on what you campaigned on, or are you going to find a compromise in the end?”

As Wallace correctly noted, Obama regularly advocated ending the Bush tax cuts for wealthier taxpayers during the campaign, which contradicts Strassel's assertion that Obama “moved the goalposts.” A July 9 USA Today article, for instance, reported that “In a White House ceremony, Obama said lower tax rates should end for Americans making more than $250,000 a year.” Obama is continuing to advocate the same position: Politico reported on November 17 that Obama “repeated his call Saturday for Congress to extend the Bush-era middle-class tax cut without delay” and urged Congress not to “hold the middle class hostage while Congress debates tax cuts for the wealthy.”

Obama, in fact, has been advocating the end of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy long before the 2012 campaign:

  • PBS noted that “The president pledged during the 2008 presidential campaign to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.”
  • When Obama agreed in 2010 to extend all Bush tax cuts for two more years as part of a deal to extend unemployment benefits, according to USA Today, Obama “stressed that he didn't like” the extension of tax cuts for upper-income Americans, saying that in two years, “It will become apparent that we can't afford these tax cuts any longer.”
  • Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal states, “I reiterate my opposition to permanently extending the Bush tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year.”

Further, contrary to Strassel's suggestion that Obama's continued advocacy for ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy precludes him from reaching “a compromise in the end,” Obama has said he's “open to new ideas” if another solution achieves his goals. The Associated Press reported on November 14: “Asked if he viewed it as a deal-breaker if Republicans refused to allow the top tax rate to revert to 39 percent from the current 36 percent, [Obama] said, 'I just want to emphasize I am open to new ideas if the Republican counterparts or some Democrats have a great idea for us to raise revenue, maintain progressivity, make sure the middle class isn't getting hit, reduces our deficit.'”