THE OBAMA SURPRISE

Obamacare continues to prove that it's the social progressive gift that keeps on giving...or, should I say, keeps on taking. Do you remember George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign pledge: "Read my lips—no new taxes!"? How about Barack Obama's 2008 campaign promise? "I can make a firm pledge," US Senator and Chicago community organizer Barack Hussein Obama promised in a campaign speech on Sept. 12, 2008, "Under my plan, no family making less than $250 thousand a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax. Not your payroll tax. Not your capital gains taxes. Not any of your taxes." He lied. (But in fairness to the community organizer, who knows promises are made to be broken, he probably only meant existing taxes, not brand new ones.)

In 1991 the Democratically-controlled Congress approached Bush-41 and told him that without a slight tax increase on the middle class, the nation would slip into a major recession. And, to prove it, the Fed was already putting the brakes on the economy. Bush caved in, but only after the Democratically leadership promised that if Bush-41 signed the tax bill Congress was proposing, the Democrats would not use that as a campaign issue in 1992. They lied. Bush signed the tax bill. Congress used Bush's "read my lips" pledge to defeat him. Here is Barack Obama's "read my lips" moment. He needs to be held responsible for his tax increases even though he wisely postponed them until after the 2012 election. He knows if he fails to win re-election, the Republicans will be easily blamed for the tax increases that go into effect on their watch—although they were enacted by the super majority 111th Reid-Pelosi Congress.

Beginning January 1, 2013 (just after the 2012 election—how convenient) Title IX of Obamacare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on the sale of single family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops. Oh, and by the way, while this is supposed to be a tax imposed on "unearned income," it imposes a 3.8% tax on rental incomes. But there is a double-whammy here for most middle income wage earners who sell their home in order to either "move up" or "downsize" in the year they sell that home. Particularly if they have a lot of equity in it. If so, they are going to get slammed. Hard. Not only will they be charged a 3.8% unearned revenue tax, the proceeds from the sale could easily push them over the $250 thousand threshold where they will get hit with a very punitive income tax bite which, according to Obama, is reserved for the very rich.

There are no exemptions in Title IX to excuse those who are "rich for a day" (in other words, rich on paper only when the sale of their home is completed even though the seller reinvests that equity into a new home. In the past, if the home seller buys another home by the end of that calendar year, the proceeds of the sale of their home was exempt from taxation. The Obama bean counters believe this one rule will produce approximately $210 billion in additional tax revenue for the Treasury.

Add to that the same tax applying to investment income that subsidizes the living of seniors on fixed incomes and retirees with IRAs and 401Ks. The 3.8% tax is not indexed for inflation, so the retirees who fall under it every year will be particularly hard it. So, prepare yourself. Those taxes that were only supposed to hit the rich guys...well, they're headed your way—right after you vote for the guy who pretty much told you, last year, to read his lips, too. The question is, what are you going to do about it?