Did Hillary Promise to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class?

News sources are atwitter with the rumor that Hillary Clinton proclaimed she would be “raising taxes on the middle class” – a stark contradiction to her former promises to provide “tax relief” to the hardworking middle class.  

This is what Hillary Clinton said on August 1st at a rally in Omaha, Nebraska:

“While Warren [Buffet] is standing up for a fairer tax code, Trump wants to cut taxes for the super-rich. Well, we’re not going there my friends. I’m telling you right now we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we aren’t going to raise taxes on the middle class!” 

Despite the audience’s positive response to her words, many are convinced that Hillary said “are gong to raise taxes on the middle class.” You can listen to her words in the video link below, but I’m fairly certain I heard the word “aren’t.” 

Many of those who are convinced she said “are going to raise taxes” are calling Hillary’s words a “slip of the tongue,” which makes sense considering the fact that Hillary has repeatedly promised to make sure “the wealthiest Americans and large corporations pay their fair share.” 

Hillary’s failure to enunciate wasn’t the only problem with her Omaha speech. No comments were made regarding the 45% of Americans who pay no federal income tax. To be more precise, in 2014, roughly 53% of all federal income taxes were paid by those earning at least $250,000.

Hillary failed to discuss any limiting principles as to how much of GDP should be made up of government spending. She also failed to mention an upper limit for taxation. 

In the wake of Hillary’s misleading speech, The Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman sat down with WSJ Assistant Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot to make some sense out of Hillary’s tax plan:

Hillary’s main criticism here is that investors and businesses are not thinking long-term. They are “dominated by short-termism,” says Freeman. “Her new plan is basically to encourage investors to hold on to investments longer via the changes in the capital gains tax rate.”

That’s because “she’s going to raise the capital gains tax rate,” explains Gigot. “You already pay regular income rates if you hold it for less than one year. If you hold it for more than one year you get a preferential rate. And the reason we have a preferential rate down to now 24% – so it’s not that preferential…is because we double tax corporate income.”

“So if you raise the tax on capital, you lower the return on capital which means less profit for the companies and typically lower wages. So she’s basically saying, ‘I want to tax increase another tax increase, adding on to the one that Barrack Obama gave us.'”