Washington Post is reporting Obama’s plans to raise taxes in the coming years.  The pipe dreams expressed here are amazing and not surprisingly the WaPo doesn’t even begin to question the figures.

Even before Congress approved the stimulus package earlier this month, this year's deficit was projected by Congressional budget analysts to approach $1.2 trillion, or 8.3 percent of the overall economy, the highest since World War II. With the stimulus and other expenses, some analysts say the annual gap between federal spending and income could approach $2 trillion when the fiscal year ends in September.

Obama proposes to dramatically reduce those numbers by the end of his first term, cutting the deficit he inherited in half, said administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the budget has yet to be released. His budget plan would keep the deficit hovering near $1 trillion in 2010 and 2011, but shows it dropping to $533 billion in 2013 -- still high in dollar terms, but a more manageable 3 percent of the overall economy.

To get there, Obama proposes to cut spending and raise taxes. The savings would come primarily from "winding down the war" in Iraq, a senior administration official said. The budget assumes that the nation will continue to spend money on "overseas military contingency operations" throughout Obama's presidency, the official said, but that number is significantly lower than the nearly $190 billion the nation budgeted for Iraq and Afghanistan last year.

Hilariously the $190b spent annually on the war now seems minuscule.  How is cutting that $190b out of the budget going to reduce the deficit from $1t down to $530b?  Does ANYONE really believe this utter BS?  If Republicans can’t manage to demolish these ideas then we are truly lost.

First problem in Obama’s plan.  Eliminating the Bush tax cuts will not increase revenue.  When confronted with this fact during the campaign he replied it had to be done anyway out of “fairness”.

Either his goal is “fairness”, as Rush Limbaugh artfully points out fairness as defined by liberals is everyone being equally miserable, or it is decreasing the deficit it can’t be both.  Now the article simply touches on the income tax rates and the 4% increase there on the top marginal rate.  That is just minor compared to the capital gains tax reduction that is also part of the Bush taxes Obama is planning to let expire.  One has to question why they left this out because a 5% increase on capital gains is far more serious than a 4% increase on the top marginal rate.

The second problem with Obama’s plan and this article is that it dramatically under states what our deficit will be this year.  These estimates are just accounting for the stimulus and current programs.  It doesn’t account for TARP II, or the next stimulus they are already talking about.  We could easily see a $2 or even $3 trillion deficit this year if all of this is passed.  We haven’t seen the beginning of the spending spree Obama wants to undertake to reshape this country.

The third and most obvious problem is this assumes private sector growth.  Who is going to be paying capital gains taxes when in 2010 we’re seeing the DOW around 6k and unemployment hits 10% nationally?  Once people get wind of his tax plans and see the real change he’s talking about it is going to be a disaster.

My only hope is that Republicans manage to make some solid gains in the House and Senate in 2010.  I think it will happen.  There seems to be a strong backlash building.  As people realize that Obama is not what they hoped for or what they had thought he was it will come to a head.  Republicans just have to be there with a credible message.