Lawrence Kudlow muses in his latest column about President Obama’s perplexing approach to tax policy:
The Obama strategy is simple: Tax the rich, because they don’t pay enough.
The problem is that they do pay enough. According to the Tax Foundation, Americans making $1 million or more pay a 25 percent average tax rate. People in the $50,000 to $100,000 income category — call it the middle class — pay 7 to 8 percent.
But no, Obama’s one big idea in his Tuesday night speech was a 30 percent minimum tax on millionaires. This, by the way, is really a hike in the capital gains tax. And this Obama penalty is aimed squarely at his likely election opponent, Mitt Romney. Talk about taxing success. Talk about taxing growth.
The capital gains tax is the single most important economywide tax on wealth, risk taking and investment. It’s a tax on seed corn. What a brilliant idea, Mr. President.
