Foo.c points to this Washington Post article on Obama’s tax pledges:

President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It’s a promise he’s already broken and will likely have to break again.

The article contains all sorts of money gems on how to pay for the healthcare proposals:

The floated proposals include increasing taxes on alcohol, which could raise $62 billion over the next decade, and a new tax on sugary drinks such as soda, which could raise $52 billion.

While I doubt it will stop consumption of those things, it will hurt consumption because now total cost of the product when the consumer purchases it will increase. So, small injury to those industries.

Asked during an interview with The Associated Press if they included tax increases on families with incomes less than $250,000 a year, [Sen. Chuck] Schumer [D-NY] said, “There are lots of things on the table now.”

So OK, the campaign promise has potential to be broken. No surprises there.

The federal budget deficit is projected to hit an unprecedented $1.8 trillion this year – on top of a national debt that has already topped $11 trillion. Obama insists that any bill on health care or climate change not add to the debt.

And just how does he propose to do that? The rainbow-farting unicorns have yet to arrive. But maybe they won’t add to debt, but since they have to be funded somehow, that just means we’re all going to pay out the nose for it somehow. Certainly not directly paying, but we’ll be nickeled and dimed in every way. Think your paycheck doesn’t go far enough now? It’s going to go even less if these proposals go through.

Obama says much of the $1 trillion needed for his health care overhaul will come from cutting costs. So far, drug companies and hospitals have agreed to provide 10-year savings of $235 billion.

And those drug companies and hospitals aren’t getting that money out of nowhere. They’ll either cut back on services, or they’ll increase their prices. Think your medical insurance costs are high now? They’re going to get higher… but then, if we have this nationalized healthcare, that just means it comes back out of your pocket via taxes or whatever other renveue generator the .gov opts to use. Bottom line: you’re going to pay for it out of your own pocket, somehow or other.

“Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year.

But less than a month after taking office, Obama signed an expansion of child health care financed by 62-cent tax increase on each pack of cigarettes.

That’s right. We don’t have to tax the hot-button things that people don’t want to have taxed (further), but there’s a gazillion other things out there just waiting to be taxed and by gum we’re going to tax them!

I love taxing of tobacco. The logic is to tax tobacco because <Mr. Mackey> tobacco’s bad, m’kay</Mr. Mackey>, and if the prices go up it will help people stop. Fair enough logic, until it actually works which then leads to reduced tax revenue and then you’re back to being fucked for money again… so raise the taxes more or tax something else. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While not directly increasing taxes, a House-passed version of Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming would similarly increase American families’ home energy bills by $175 a year on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

But it’s not a tax! So it’s OK, right?

He proposed limiting itemized tax deductions for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000. The plan, which faces stiff opposition in Congress, would limit deductions for mortgage insurance, state and local taxes and charitable contributions, raising about $270 billion over the next decade.

See? That’s not raising taxes either! And it’s all those rich people… fuck ’em, they can afford it. Glad you aim low.

Obama also proposed a series of business tax increases and accounting changes that would raise an additional $30 billion.

That’s fine tho… it’s taxing business, not me, so go for it! Of course, those businesses just don’t eat that expense, they pass it along to me, the consumer, in the form of higher prices. But hey, it’s not taxing me!

The math illustrates how difficult it is to raise enough money to pay for expensive programs, when tax increases are limited to the wealthy.

Yup. If you want health care for everyone, then I think everyone ought to pay for their health care.

I just don’t get what people are thinking… that somehow “no income tax increase” equates to “free” and “doesn’t cost/affect me.” They will boost taxes on everything else, fees, call it whatever they want to, but this all has to be paid for somehow and in the end YOU are the one that is going to pay for it. People… government doesn’t MAKE money; they don’t sell a service, they don’t produce a product. Government doesn’t do anything to actually earn the money that comes into it. No, government takes a portion of your money — that’s how it funds everything. Whereas in a business if it wants more money to pay for more things, that business must do something useful to earn that money; but government? It will just pass a law and force you to fork over more of your money. What do you get in exchange? Maybe something, but was it worth it?