Question

why did bill clinton raise the taxes?

Answer 1

Because that's what Democrats do.

Answer 2

lol...but do you know the real answer? what was his motive?

Answer 3

Honestly, I can't remember. This was in the early days of his Administration, early 1993, and he was so thoroughly rebuked by this act and Hillarycare in the 94 midterms (and for that matter barely squeaked out re-election in 96) that for the next 6 years he was a completely different President -- much more the triangulatin' "third-way" moderate Democrat he was in the 92 campaign. (It helped he now had a Gingrich-led Republican Congress on his back, of course.) He pivoted so abruptly from FDR to Warren G. Harding it's hard to remember what he was like in the early "FDR" days.

If I had to guess, I would say Hillarycare. That was going to be his signature accomplishment, and, unlike the current President, Clinton was straight up about the fact that national healthcare would cost a great deal of money. I would guess he was trying to position the revenue sources ahead of time, so that when it came time to pass Hillarycare he could present it as not a budget-buster without the gimmicky accounting tricks that were necessary for Obama when it came to Obamacare.