David Webb: Obama budget a battle cry

Elections have consequences — unless, of course, you’re Barack Obama. 

Americans have soundly rejected the policies of the Obama administration and of Democrats in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections. Yes, the president was reelected, but growing Republican majorities in Congress, state legislatures, governorships and the U.S. Senate demonstrate a rejection at the local, state and federal levels. 

{mosads}And yet the petulant president has doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on the leftist battle cry about “mindless austerity.” His recent budget proposal is further proof of this; Obama is not mindful in a realistic manner outside of his ideology. While there’s still plenty of analysis to be done as the president’s $4 trillion budget proposal is examined in detail, here’s some of the highlights — or more accurately, the low lights — of his tax-and-spend policy, or more accurately, his “government is in the business of taking from all under the guise of taking from the wealthy to give to the poor” plan. 

The first is a second death tax. In an example from Americans for Tax Reform, a house bought for $10,000 with a fair market value of $100,000 at the time it’s inherited, if sold for $120,000, under current law would show a capital gain of $20,000. Under the Obama budget proposal, the inheritor would pay a capital gain of $110,000, or the current sale price minus the original purchase price. 

Secondly, even though Americans by and large do not like the big banks, who really believes that the 100 largest banks in the country will pay out $112 billion based on his proposal to impose a 0.07 percent fee without some recovery plan? It’s the middle class, business owners and many Americans who use these banks who will be left holding the “fee” bag. 

Third is the tobacco tax. I’m not a smoker, and yes, smoking is bad for you, but I have sympathy for the already high cost of smoking. In New York City a pack of cigarettes costs on average close to $15. The higher cost for cigarettes and small cigars will not stop people from smoking. The Obama plan is to nearly double the taxes on cigarettes and small cigars to about $1.95 per pack — an increase from $1.01 per pack — and the tax would be linked to inflation. This increase, of course, would be used to fund an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program — and who doesn’t want to fund the little children? The proposal would also fund universal preschool. Who doesn’t want the federal government taxing a bad habit and a health risk to fund the children? 

Last is the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans want to find a way to fund the department but not Obama’s de facto amnesty action. Nearly a million border-crossing illegal immigrants have received U.S. work permits during Obama’s presidency, federal documents reveal. And since 2009 the administration has parceled out 5.4 million work permits for foreigners who came to the U.S. as tourists, students or as other types of migrants, according to documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for Immigration Studies. If homeland security is so essential, why doesn’t the administration work with Republicans to enforce current laws? 

Obama just wants to fund his Dreamers. 

Webb is host of “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot 125, a Fox News contributor and has appeared frequently on television as a commentator. Webb co-founded TeaParty365 in New York City and is a spokesman for the National Tea Party Federation. His column appears twice a month in The Hill.