Conservative voters have already begun to chatter about Obama’s potential re-election and the onslaught of taxes that would hit the middle class if it were to happen.

As I type this, the conservative news site, The Blaze is running a story titled “Tax Bombshell: If Re-elected, Would President Obama Raise Taxes For Middle Class?”

Even if The Blaze can’t figure out the answer by the end of the article, we can.  President Obama’s tax plan has been released and analyzed by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.  So, does Obama intend to raise taxes on the middle class?  The answer to that is, essentially no, he does not.  The top 20 percent, however, will see an increase by 2%, while the top 1 percent will have a 4.9% increase.

Like most news items that come out of conservative media, The Blaze piece is as misleading as the trailer for Catfish.  At no point does The Blaze article even acknowledge Obama’s 2013 tax plan, rather it references a story from 2009.  I should also mention The Blaze is the brainchild of this nimrod:

The Blaze has done its job of reinforcing misinformation in the minds of conservatives.  Below is a sampling of posts in the comments section that accompanies The Blaze article:

Gonzo posts:
Is the Pope Catholic?

Football Lady posts:
No doubt about it.  He will raise taxes, not that he hasn’t already.

Then the comments become a bit batshit, diving into the birther allegations and the fear of Obama taking their guns away, both theories that have zero truth to them.

During Obama’s administration taxes have hit incredible lows.  In fact, if you were to compare an average family of four’s income tax under Reagan of 11.06 in 1982 to the 2010 conditions under Obama of 4.68 percent, I think many conservatives would be shocked… and then proceed to claim he’s an illegal and shouldn’t be here anyway.

Let’s cross the street and take a look at the (eventual) GOP candidate’s tax plan.  Mitt Romney presents himself as being in touch with middle America (when not name dropping NASCAR team owners or making $10,000 bets), I’m sure his tax plan takes the middle class’ struggles into account.  Under Romney, the bottom 20 percent will see a federal tax rate increase of 1.3 percent.  Well, under Romney’s plan we will all make financial sacrifices for the good of the nation… unless you are rich.  The top 20 percent would see a 5.4 percent reduction in their tax rate while the top 1 percent would see a 7.8 percent drop.

In 2010, Romney paid 13.9 percent on an income of $21.7 million.  Our current tax code gives special treatment to unearned income, like capital gains and dividend payments, which is how Mittens earns his income.  Clearly, it has not always been this way.  The capital gains rates were originally at 21.2 percent and the dividend payments were close to forty percent, until 2003.

2003 saw the release of The Love Guru and the signing in of the Bush tax cuts, two things that would negatively affect our nation for years to come.  I’m kidding, nobody remembers The Love Guru.

The affect of the Bush tax cuts has been horrible on our economy.  You can look no further than the below graphic using numbers from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that ran in The New York Times on July 23, 2011.

Bruce Bartlett former domestic policy advisor to Reagan, has explained in a piece that ran in The New York Times how the Bush tax cuts plus interest have actually contributed $3.2 trillion dollars to our debt since 2001.

Many economists including Republican economists Bartlett and Alan Greenspan along with the majority of Americans are in favor of the lapse of the Bush tax cuts and the appropriate taxation of the wealthiest incomes.  Who would be in favor of the continuation of this failed policy?
“Now, I also support the Bush tax cuts. Senator McCain voted against them originally. He now believes they should be made permanent. I’m glad he agrees they should be made permanent. I think he should have voted for them the first time around, and that’s just a difference of viewpoint.  The Bush tax cuts helped get our economy going again when we faced the last tough times.” – Mitt Romney speaking at the 2008 GOP Boca Raton debate

How did Obama handle the Bush tax cuts?  Like a boss, vowing to end them for the upper class while campaigning in 2008… which didn’t quite work out like we thought it would.  2010 saw the Republicans take the majority in the House, and extend cuts for the wealthiest incomes while Obama quickly found his back against the wall as if he were sharing a jail cell with Randall Tex Cobb.

The President pushed for unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut extension making a deal with the GOP who agreed to those provisions as long as all of the Bush tax cuts were extended as well (because men like Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson need tax breaks after accepting an end of year bonus of  $3.36 million in 2010).

This is what the modern-day Republican Party does now.  I will never understand those in the middle and low earning brackets who continue to support a party that no longer looks to you as a priority, but simply a bargaining chip.

Bill Moyers recently interviewed Bruce Bartlett and the subject came up of the GOP supporters and their ability to completely ignore the reality of the current economic situation.

Bill Moyers: I just read a summary of a study done at the University of Michigan that over a period of time shows that people have confronted with facts they believe to be true will reject them nonetheless if they offend or undermine their belief system. That their beliefs – our beliefs are more important to us than the facts.

Bruce Bartlett: Oh, I think we need some  – instead of talking to economists like me, we need to be talking to psychologists and sociologists to try to get at the root of this problem.