CNN's Gergen: 'Democratic Congress' Will 'Move Toward Raising Taxes'
CNN examined the differences between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama’s economic positions and admitted that taxes would be increased under democrats.
Senior political analyst David Gergen declared that under Democrats increased taxes are “just gonna come.”
“Senator Obama and the Democratic Congress, there’s gonna be a Democratic Congress – is going to move toward raising taxes. That’s just gonna come. It’s gonna come on energy, it’s gonna come on the general taxes on people above $250,000 as Jeanne just said,” Gergen told viewers of the June 4 broadcast of “Issue # 1.”
And that’s not all. “There’s going to be upward pressure on corporate taxes. There’s going to be upward pressure on capital gains taxes and possibly on dividend taxes, so – because there’s a lot to pay for,” said Gergen, who has advised Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.
Gergen was answering co-host Ali Velshi’s question about the way the candidates “differ on taxes.” McCain will “contrast” with Obama by standing “very clearly for lower taxes,” he said.
Gergen mentioned the rising costs both candidates support in a cap-and-trade system for energy, and that it “means raising the cost for utility rates and raising the cost for gasoline.” “That’s just built into the legislation,” he said.
Many critics of cap-and-trade agree that costs would shoot up under such a system. The National Association of Manufacturers estimated that gasoline prices could go up by as much as $5 per gallon by 2030. The Heritage Foundation estimated that under the Lieberman/Warner cap-and-trade plan currently being debate by the Senate individual households’ incomes could decline from about $950 to $3,700 per year through 2030.
