Democrats (And Peters) Play Games with Taxpayers

Over considerable Democratic objections, a Republican Congress dramatically lowered taxes for everyone in our entire country almost ten years ago. Republicans lowered taxes for low-income earners who go to work everyday making goods or providing services that we all need. Republicans lowered taxes for middle-class earners who do what they do to make our economy strong and vibrant. And Republicans lowered taxes for high earners, those who invest in industry, run their own businesses, or are very successful in their enterprises. Everyone in our country got a tax break when Republicans were in charge of Congress and everyone in our nation got to keep more of their income.

Not so when Democrats are in charge of Congress. Under four years of Democratic control, there were no major tax cuts enacted (most of us never even noticed that little baby Obama cut that was targeted towards politically favored groups). And now, as Democrats are being thrown out of office, they have decided to at the very last moment engage in class warfare and not extend the tax cuts for high earners in our nation, thereby putting in place the largest tax increase ever in the history our nation on small businesses, successful entrepreneurs, and top investors. The effect of that massive tax increase by Democrats will predictably be to lower investment, lower incentives to produce, and increase business for tax layers who will shield greater amounts of income from the state's lustful reach.

So, on a local note, where did Congressman Gary Peters vote?

Congressman Peters, as some of you might know, is a 'blue-dog' Democrat from Michigan who managed to cling to office in spite of the Republican wave of 2010 by convincing the voters of his district that he was a tax-cutting, small-government, moderate, friend-of-business conservative, and not in fact what his votes in Congress say that he is, which is a tax-raising, large-government, liberal, enemy-of-business leftist. He says he's one thing- I say his votes say he is another. So, let's take a look at where he voted this time around. Did he vote to play class-warfare and raise taxes on the rich or did he vote against his party in support of Republican proposals to make permanent the tax cuts for everyone? Oh, he'll run next election claiming that he voted 'to cut taxes', but we all know that the vote on HR 4853 was not about cutting taxes for the middle class, but was about whether or not to let the Republican tax cuts for everyone continue or not.

Let's go to the record, courtesy of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. On Roll Call vote number 604, on a motion that the House agrees with an amendment to the Senate amendment of HR 4853 (which extends the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund) (Democrats couldn't openly vote on this issue, they had to sneak attack on it in a totally ungermane bill), Gary Peters, Democrat from Michigan's 9th District, voted 'Yea'. Just look for 'Pelosi' on the Roll Call list, and you'll see Peters' name there, as always, voting with Nancy Pelosi 95% of the time.

And with that, Peters and other Blue Dog Democrats have once more showed that when it comes down to it, they want to just play games with tax rates, picking and choosing who they like, and would rather attack the rich in a down economy then let those people keep the money they earn to invest or buy as they see fit. Peters and other 'moderates' showed that class warfare and shady games are more important to them then just doing the right thing, which is extending the Republican tax cuts. If Democrats love the middle class and poor so much, after extending tax cuts for everyone, they should then propose deeper tax cuts for those groups, and I am sure Republicans would be okay with it. It's within their power to do so. But no, they just want credit for not raising taxes that they supported earlier on selected groups within society. And if you vote Democrat, that's all you are supporting. Myself, I usually vote Republicans, because they want credit for lowering taxes that they have always supported lowering for everyone in society, and that sounds a little bit more like it should be.

UPDATE: Via Conservative Summer:

On December 2nd, Rep. Gary Peters voted along with his party again, to extend the 'Bush Tax Cuts' to those making under $250k a year. This is not what the Congressman promised back in September. In fact, in a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Peters along with three other Congressmen wrote:

"We urge you to consider legislation to extend all of the income tax cuts," the letter to Pelosi reads. "In recent weeks, we have heard from a diverse spectrum of economists, small business owners, and families who have voiced concerns that raising any taxes right now could negatively impact economic growth. Given the continued fragility of our economy and slow pace of recovery, we share their concerns."

Today we find the unemployment numbers have climbed from 9.6% to 9.8% and these numbers will certainly rise with the additional tax burdens that Congressman Peters has imposed on our small business owners. And he calls himself a 'moderate.'

UPDATE II: The Freep says this about Peters recently:

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, was one of President Barack Obama's best friends last week because he was one of the few Democrats openly supporting extending the Bush-era tax cuts for everybody, not just people who make less than $250,000 a year...the New York Times described Peters as an "obscure" freshman representative from Michigan.

This is Peters' game- openly support tax cuts for everyone, and then when the vote comes up in Congress on the issue, vote the other way. Then when it comes time to explain why you voted the way you did, you use your legal background to explain that your vote was to cut taxes for the poor and middle class, while we all know that that vote was to purposefully extend tax cuts for everyone but the 'rich'. This guy might be 'obscure', but I think a better word to describe Congressman Gary Peters is 'slimy.'