Two-Face: Obama Will Raise Taxes on Middle Class

President Obama is looking more like a supervillain with the latest buzz that the administration's looking to raise taxes on those making less that $250,000 annually.

Liberty Pundit covered the story on Monday, "Told You So: Obama Will Eventually Raise Taxes On Middle Class."

James Pethokoukis is here, "Middle-Class Tax Hike in Obama's Future."

But check out Byron York, "You Can bet On It: Obama Will Raise Your Taxes":

Economists left and right have long argued that there is no way Obama can pay for a national health care makeover and a host of other expensive initiatives without breaking his campaign pledge not to raise taxes for anyone making less than $250,000. The wealthy are already paying a grossly disproportionate percentage of federal income taxes, and increasing taxes on them won't raise enough money to meet Obama's needs.

That's why Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hemmed and hawed Sunday when ABC's George Stephanopoulos pressed him on the prospect of higher taxes. "Well, we're going to have to look at -- we're going to have to do what's necessary," Geithner answered.

During the presidential campaign, candidate Obama was absolutely adamant about taxes. "If you make less than $250,000 a year, you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime," Obama said at a September 2008 rally. "In fact, I offer three times the tax relief for middle-class families as Senator McCain does, because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class."

Not long after Obama made those remarks, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the Toledo, Ohio, man better known as Joe the Plumber, made headlines with a single question to the candidate: "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

Looking Wurzelbacher in the eye, Obama carefully explained that he wanted to cut most people's taxes, but that if the plumbing company Wurzelbacher wanted to buy generated more than $250,000, then yes, his taxes would go up. "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," Obama said.

Wurzelbacher's skepticism touched a nerve among Republicans and set off a wave of derision among Democrats. But in all the arguing that followed, many observers missed the true meaning of his point.

Republican voters weren't concerned about Obama's tax pledge because they themselves made more than $250,000 a year. The vast majority of them didn't. And they weren't concerned because they believed they would soon make more than $250,000 a year. They were concerned because they simply did not believe Obama's promise. They knew what he was planning, and they knew it couldn't be paid for just by raising taxes on the rich. Sooner or later, they sensed, Obama would be coming after them.

And now, less than a year later, the time has nearly come.

See also, Fox News, " 'Not One Single Dime'? Will Obama Break His Word on Raising Taxes on Middle Class?"

Cartoon Credit: William Warren at Americans for Limited Government.