the nation columnists

Presidential candidates rarely promise to raise taxes, especially since Walter Mondale's 1984 gambit - "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes and so will I," he announced at the Democratic National Convention. "He won't tell you. I just did." - pretty much ended his campaign.

Barack Obama was almost that blunt, but much craftier. He spent two years talking about growing income inequality, the plight of the middle class, and the need to give everyone access to health care. He made promises, including a tax break for 95 percent of Americans, and said he was going to pay for it, in part, by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

He even tried to convince Joe the Plumber there was virtue in "sharing the wealth."

Obama won anyway, and it seems he intends to keep those promises, prompting hysteria in some quarters. Republicans are screaming "socialism" on every channel. A caller to the Daily News Speak Out line announced that "Armageddon for the middle class has arrived."

The change Obama is trying to bring touches people's wallets, emotions and ideologies, but first let's throw out some mundane specifics.

One flashpoint for the current debate is a provision in Obama's budget that would cover half of the $634 billion set aside for a reformed health care system by reducing to 28 percent (from 35 or 33 percent) the income tax deductions for 1.2 percent of all tax filers: Singles earning at least $200,000 a year and joint filers making at least $250,000.