For the fourth time in his presidency, President Barack Obama submitted his budget proposal well after the legally-required February 4th deadline, angering both Republicans and Democrats who are declaring the $3.8 trillion Obama budget dead on arrival.
The deficit-busting Obama package is larded with additional tax hikes likely to raise Republican ire and cuts to Social Security benefits that have already sparked progressive protest rallies on Tuesday declaring Obama’s proposal “inhumane,” “Dickensian,” and “reprehensible.”
Terry O’Neill of the National Organization for Women called Obama’s Social Security cuts “damned malarkey.”
Republicans are quick to point out that, as with Obama’s past budgets, this one is chock-full of mathematical shell games and phantom savings. For example, the Obama budget promises $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. But the White House gets to that figure by assuming $400 billion in savings from Obamacare, calling slowing the rate of automatic spending rate increases “cuts,” and jacking up taxes $580 billion on higher-income Americans. The plan also calls for a reconfiguration of the consumer price index (CPI) that would move millions of middle class Americans into higher tax brackets. Asked about the proposal, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney replied, “I’m not disputing that. It is not the president’s ideal policy.”
Forbes also notes that the Obama budget proposal would likely reduce charitable contributions due to a 20% increase in what it calls the “charity tax.” In recent months, charities have said the Obama Administration continues to bully and intimidate them. And a report from the Government Accountability Institute found that under Obama, IRS audits on charities have increased 79%.
With so much dissatisfaction from Democrats and Republicans, this year’s Obama budget may go the way of his last two budgets. In 2011 and 2012, President Barack Obama suffered embarrassing defeats when the Senate unanimously rejected his proposed budgets.