A Note on Tax Policy

Under Romney, millionaires and billionaires would get a $250,000 tax cut, while families with kids making less than $40,000 a year would, on average, actually see their taxes go up.

--Jim Messina, Campaign Manager, Obama for America

I haven't fact-checked this claim from the Obama Campaign, but I have an easy time believing it is true. Many years ago Grover Norquist outlined a basic strategy for Republican politicians: keep the taxes on lower income people uncomfortably high so they will continue to support "tax relief" for high income earners. We have to break through that smokescreen, and the Occupy movement began to do it with a focus on the 99% and the 1%. If the question is, "Would you like to see lower taxes?" then the Republican frame will win out. If the question is,"Is it fair for Warren Buffett to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary?" the Democrats will have a fighting chance of at least allowing the tax rates for the wealthiest revert to their Clinton-era levels. (They might also point out that Mitt Romney, earning about $20 million per year, is paying a lower tax rate than lots of middle income people.)