$3,500 more in taxes for the average American family.
$2,00 more in taxes for middle-income filers, $400 more in taxes for the poorest households and $120,000 more for the wealthiest.
Reuters has questions for the candidates regarding this impending disaster:
“President Obama: You have said you want to keep Bush-level individual income tax rates in place for most Americans, but let rates rise for households with income exceeding $250,000. You have also said you want to raise the capital gains and dividend tax rates on those high-income households.
“You proposed a substantially similar package in 2010, but then backed off. Whether or not you are re-elected, you will be in charge during the lame-duck session in November and December. Will you stick to your tax positions during that time? If so, why should the outcome be any different than it was in 2010?”
“Governor Romney: You have proposed making the Bush tax cuts permanent. But you also have proposed a 20-percent, across-the-board tax cut, to be paid for by closing tax breaks you have not identified. And you have said that under your plan, the wealthy would pay a share of taxes similar to what they pay today.
“If you were elected, would you make the Bush tax cuts permanent or would you cut taxes by 20 percent? Or would you try to do one and then the other? If you cut taxes by 20 percent, what specific tax breaks would you try to close to pay for it?”
The difference between Romney and Obama is that the President is charged with supporting a plan that didn’t work two years ago.
He’s proposed nothing new, nothing.
And even Senate Democrats have different ideas about how to solve this problem.
But as he’s proven throughout this campaign, Obama is a go-it-alone kind of guy.
The 2013 tax hikes belong to Obama and he’s got to explain to the American people why they should be slammed with more taxes during a recession-like recovery or explain how he’s going to do thing differently to change the outcome from two years ago.
So far, he isn’t up to the task.