Howard Gleckman slams Obama's budget:
In today’s budget proposal, Obama would increase taxes to 17.9 of GDP in 2013. This is just about what revenues averaged under Reagan. And it would be a step in the right direction. Except the chances of it happening hover around zero.
Obama would get there mostly with a collection of ideas that he failed to sell to even a Democrat Congress. They include: allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, capping the value of itemized deductions at 28 percent, taxing the compensation of hedge fund managers and other financiers at ordinary income instead of capital gains rates, and increasing taxes on multinationals.
It is a deeply unserious proposal. It's like proposing a new paint for the living room, while the ceiling is slowly falling in, and the roof has a leak that won't quit.