Obama's plan to buy votes from seniors falls flat

I've not met many tax cuts that I didn't like - but I have to point out Barack Obama's blatant attempt to buy the votes of senior citizens . . . even though that attempt is a dud.

In an Associated Press story, Andrew Taylor analyzes Barack Obama's plan to exempt seniors earning less than $50,000 a year from paying any federal income tax.  Tax experts, think tanks, and even the AARP are critical of the plan.  This tax break would, according to AARP, "only partly offset additional taxes that Obama would impose on older adults through higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains."

According to the experts, most of the seniors who could use some financial help are already paying no income tax - so this proposal wouldn't help them.  But lots of retirees with "substantial assets" who don't earn over $50,000 because they don't need that much income anymore would get the largess.

But "cutting" taxes for seniors sounds good in a sound bite.  And who looks at details anymore?  Obama and the Democrats are hoping that nobody will realize that the money that he wants to put in their front pockets is coming out of their own back pockets - likely with a "small" transaction fee kept in Washington.