Way back during the Presidential campaign of 1992 was when I came to the realization that Bill Clinton was lying to me. No, it didn't take hold only after he pointed his finger at the camera and insisted "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." I knew he was lying to America during his first campaign for president. In speeches and in debates he regularly listed three-point programs to solve basically every problem presented to him. In fact, it was strange that every program seemed to have three points to it. And each solution involved government intervention with increases in government spending. And during all of this he insisted he would also push for legislation of a "middle-class tax cut."
From a 1996 article by van Goethe in the Cornell Review are a list of Clinton's lies, or flip-flops, on policy only. A snippet:
On a Middle Class tax cut:“...I’ve offered a comprehensive plan...[that] starts with a tax cut for the middle class.”
-Bill Clinton, in his first campaign ad, January 1992“We will lower the tax burden on the middle class...”
-Bill Clinton, in Putting People First, September 1992“I will not raise taxes on the middle class.”
-Bill Clinton, October 19, 1992“From New Hampshire forward, for reasons that absolutely mystified me, the press thought the most important issue in the race was the middle class tax cut. I never did meet any voter who thought that.”
-Bill Clinton, January 14, 1993
So what happened? I'll let a Democratic Senator and a NY Times columnist tell you:
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) described the 1993 Clinton tax hike as "the largest tax increase in the history of public finance in the United States or anywhere else in the world." (Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Congressional Record, 3/18/93, p. S3126)
"..many people who are not wealthy will be affected by the tax increases, some in ways that have been widely heralded, but others in ways that may come as a surprise. Gasoline taxes are going up; so are taxes on many people's Social Security benefits. Anyone who moves for a new job might lose certain deductions of expenses, whether he is Croesus or Cratchit." (John H. Cushman Jr., "The Budget Struggle," The New York Times, 8/8/93)
Middle-class taxes certainly were not cut, they were raised. He just tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't do it, remember. Note that Mr. Clinton's statement about the tax cut not being very important occurred before inauguration, but after the election. Note also that the late Sen. Moynihan's comments occurred March 18, 1993 - it took less than 2 months after Clinton was sworn-in for the cut to disappear, and be replaced by the huge increase.
So when John Kerry pointed his finger at your screen last friday and vowed to raise taxes only on those earning greater than $200,000 per year, and in the same debate proposed new government programs and a reduction of the deficit, remember Mr. Clinton and the biggest whopper of his campaign. That's the one that stuck with me.
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