A vote against John Kerry - a good reason.

By Taney Friend.

Policy Memo: Kerry's Seven-Step Plan to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class


Memorandum
From: BC '04 Policy Department
A close examination of John Kerry's voting record, speeches, campaign documents and guidance from campaign advisers reveals a seven-step plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Here are the seven steps:
1. Get Experience at Raising Taxes
2. Make Promises for More Government Spending (Only Later Come Up with Enough Tax Increases to Pay for It)
3. Admit to Wanting to Raise More Taxes, but Say It's Just for the "Wealthy"
4. Start Expanding the Definition of the "Wealthy"
5. Ignore Who Will be Hurt by Raising Taxes
6. Start Adding Exceptions to Commitments Against Raising Taxes on the Middle Class
7. Wait Until after the Election to Reveal All of the Tax Increases
Step #1: Get Experience at Raising Taxes
Kerry Has Voted for Higher Taxes Hundreds of Times - Whenever given the opportunity, Kerry has voted against taxpayers and for more money going to the federal government in Washington, D.C. In his 19 years in the Senate, Kerry has voted 98 times for tax increases totaling more than $2.3 trillion. He voted at least 126 times against tax cuts totaling more than $5.3 trillion. He has also voted 73 times to reduce the size of a tax cut, 67 times for smaller tax cuts and 11 times against repealing tax hikes.
Kerry voted for the "largest tax increase in history" - Kerry voted for the 1993 tax increase, which the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) described as "the largest tax increase in the history of public finance in the United States or anywhere else in the world." (Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Congressional Record, 3/18/93, p. S3126)

Examples of middle class tax hikes Kerry has voted for:
*Voted twice to increase taxes on Social Security benefits.
*Voted twice to increase taxes on gasoline.

Kerry voted against the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts - Perhaps most importantly, the above votes include the times that Kerry voted against the President's tax cut bills in 2001 and 2003. These bills included the creation of a low 10% tax bracket, reduction of the marriage penalty and doubling of the child tax credit to $1,000. They are providing 111 million taxpayers an average tax cut of $1,500 this year.
(Source: Treasury Department press release, 4/9/04)

Examples of middle class tax cuts Kerry has voted against:
*Voted at least 22 times against marriage penalty relief.
*Voted at least 18 times against expanding the child tax credit.
*Voted at least 9 times against expanding Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
*Voted at least 7 times against expanding the adoption tax credit.