During the February 23 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, political analyst Pat Buchanan stated that under President Obama's plan, “we're looking at permanent tax increases. The taxes are going to go up to 40 percent personal rate; capital gains are going up to 20 percent.” During the same segment, co-host Joe Scarborough said that the White House suggested it will propose “an increase of taxes. Of course, they're increasing taxes at the same time the economy is collapsing.” But neither Scarborough nor Buchanan noted that, as Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, stated during a subsequent Morning Joe segment, Obama proposes letting the Bush tax cuts expire only “for those who are earning more than ... a quarter of a million dollars a year.” Even after Orszag's appearance, Buchanan claimed that “personal income taxes are going up” without noting that Obama proposed doing this only for a limited number of people.

Scarborough's and Buchanan's claims echo a conservative talking point during the presidential campaign that Obama proposed “rais[ing] your taxes.”

On Morning Joe, Orszag stated that “those tax provisions for high-income taxpayers above a quarter of a million dollars a year are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010. Under the president's budget, they would be allowed to expire, again, only for those who are earning more than -- more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.” Additionally, The New York Times reported on February 21 that the Obama administration seeks to cut the deficit in half by the end of this first term, in part through “higher taxes on the wealthy”:

Mr. Obama will also call for letting the Bush tax cuts on income, dividends and capital gains lapse after 2010 for individuals who make more than $250,000 a year. But while the top rate for income would rise to 39.6 percent, the top rate for capital gains and dividends would be 20 percent.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama called for immediately repealing those tax cuts. He decided instead to keep them in place through 2010, as scheduled, reflecting the widespread belief that raising taxes further depresses economic activity.

From the February 23 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

BUCHANAN: I think the federal government is going to have an increase in size; it is never going back again. I think these Republican governors are fighting against an increase in the size of state government that will never go back again. I think we're looking down the road -- even though we're Republicans and conservatives in a lot of ways -- we're looking at permanent tax increases. The taxes are going to go up to 40 percent personal rate; capital gains are going up to 20 percent. I think the estate taxes are going to go back up to where they were. I think --

SCARBOROUGH: Well, and by the way --

BUCHANAN: -- that we are never going back again in our lifetime to what it was under Reagan. We've got a huge expansion of government at all levels.

SCARBOROUGH: And what Pat just went through there, Mika, was what the White House has suggested they are going to propose in this budget -- an increase of taxes. Of course, they're increasing taxes at the same time the economy is collapsing. Conservatives would say that's how you destroy the economy. At the same time, though, we've got another great challenge that you and I have been talking about on this show every morning, and that is our increasing federal debt. You cannot continue to allow the debt to explode -- the deficit to explode -- so there's a part of this that some would suggest is responsible.

[...]

SCARBOROUGH: Let's start with the tax increases. First of all, very quickly, just so everybody knows out there, Barack Obama -- made this promise during the campaign: He was going to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, rates to go up. But at the same time, even he expressed concern if you do that during an economic downturn, it might increase the downturn. Why the change of direction, at least from his modified campaign promise?

ORSZAG: Well, I don't think there is any change at all. I think you'll see those tax provisions expiring after the economy is -- should be recovering. It's not going to happen this year.

SCARBOROUGH: And explain that. That's an -- that's an important --

ORSZAG: OK.

SCARBOROUGH: That's an important point. Explain these don't really take effect for a couple of years, right?

ORSZAG: Yeah, those tax provisions for high-income taxpayers above a quarter of a million dollars a year are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010. Under the president's budget, they would be allowed to expire, again, only for those who are earning more than -- more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.

SCARBOROUGH: So President Obama would have the option -- let's say halfway to -- through -- to -- through 2010, unemployment's at 12 or 13 percent, GDP continues to fall -- and let's hope to God that's not the case -- but you all still reserve the right at that point to revisit tax increases, right?

ORSZAG: Sure, one can always -- we're gonna have to, you know, see how everything goes, but we're trying to avoid that situation in the first place. That was the whole point of the recovery act: to try to jump start the economy and avoid those double-digit unemployment rates.

[...]

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (co-host): And Pat Buchanan, I wonder what these now new goals that we're hearing being set by the White House to cut the deficit in half by the end of President Obama's term. In a way, I guess you would think that some Republicans or some conservatives would support that. That is, until you look at --

BUCHANAN: Right.

BRZEZINSKI: -- how they plan to do that.

BUCHANAN: Well, yeah, exactly. And of course they got tax increases -- capital gains are going up, personal income taxes are going up, state taxes are going up, and all that. So Republicans would oppose it. It's also is PR, as [NBC News chief White House correspondent] Chuck Todd sort of indicated, a lot of it. But to Joe's point: 1951 I believe it was, Harry Truman nationalized the steel mills, and it was an enormous Supreme Court case -- enormous battle that convulsed the country for weeks and months on end -- and finally they slapped Harry Truman down, said you can't do it. Now we're talking about nationalizing --

SCARBOROUGH: Right.

BUCHANAN: -- the banks. It's this week's story.