No Lip Service: Dems Trade Higher Taxes for Social Programs

May 29, 2007 — -- The Democratic presidential candidates want to raise your taxes.

Most of them aren't exactly advertising that fact when they talk about their plans for health care, the environment and education. But for a party that has long feared political fallout when talking about taxes, the Democrats' 2008 crop of presidential contenders is showing remarkable frankness in talking about the need for additional revenues to fund their priorities.

Sen, Barack Obama, D-Ill., became the latest candidate to call for higher taxes Tuesday, when he unveiled his plan for universal health coverage. He is calling for the tax cuts pushed by President Bush to expire in 2010 for upper-income earners -- an effective tax hike for more than 1 million taxpayers -- and is proposing a new tax on small businesses that don't provide health care to their employees.

"We now face an opportunity -- and an obligation -- to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates," Obama said in unveiling his health care plan in Iowa. "To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don't make a meaningful contribution today to the health coverage of their employees to do so by supporting this new plan. And we will allow the temporary Bush tax cut for the wealthiest Americans to expire."

Obama joins former North Carolina Democratic Sen. John Edwards in calling for higher taxes to help fix the nation's health care woes. Edwards wants to roll back the Bush tax cuts for Americans making more than $200,000 a year, and said he would also consider raising capital gains rates and Social Security taxes.

In addition, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is proposing a "carbon tax" that would be assessed on businesses based on how much pollution they generate, with the money to be funneled into a trust fund for renewable energy technologies. Though individuals would not be assessed any new taxes, businesses would almost certainly pass on some of their costs to consumers, leaving Americans indirectly paying new taxes.