Clinton and Sanders are divided over a big Obama promise: Not raising taxes on the middle class

The Washington Post reports:

A central promise of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and presidency — that the middle class would not pay more in taxes — is now dividing the Democratic candidates vying to replace him, underscoring how Democrats are split over how far to go with their ambitions for what government can accomplish.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley say the middle class could see at least somewhat higher tax rates to pay for the expansive government programs they favor. They also say the middle class will benefit overall from their plans.

But Hillary Rodham Clinton, for the first time in this campaign, is now committing to the same pledge Obama made: no new taxes on households earning under $250,000 a year. Clinton also took the pledge when she ran for president in 2008 — a position that then aligned with Obama's — but she is making it today in a more populist Democratic environment.

"Hillary Clinton is proposing a bold, ambitious agenda," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement, "but in paying for her proposals, she fundamentally rejects the idea that we should be willing to raise taxes on middle-class households. We need to raise these families' incomes, not their taxes."

The socialists have plans for your wallet.