President Obama has formally proposed 442 tax increases since taking office in 2009, including 137 increases in the fiscal year 2014 and 93 in 2015.
The figures come from an analysis by Americans for Tax Reform based on the president’s proposed budgets for each of the years of his tenure. The total includes only those taxes he has proposed, not necessarily enacted, thus it does not include Obamacare’s 20 new tax increases and the substantial tobacco tax hike, signed just a few weeks into his presidency.
Here is the breakdown by year:
- 79 tax increases for FY 2010
- 52 tax increases for FY 2011
- 47 tax increases for FY 2012
- 34 tax increases for FY 2013
- 137 tax increases for FY 2014
- 93 tax increases for FY 2015
ATR points out that the President’s lowest number, 34 tax hikes, were proposed during his reelection year. The following year, FY 2014, he “came back with a vengeance,” almost doubling his yearly average with 137 proposed increases.
The report also highlights a few taxation ideas that the President has entertained during his terms, including a national tax on soda and sugary drinks and a Value-Added-Tax.
Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the list is a reminder of the President’s intentions rather than just what he was able to accomplish through Congress:
History tells us what Obama was able to do. This list reminds us of what Obama wanted to do.


