Obama versus McCain on taxes

[DougMD]

I have heard recently that Obama has flip flopped to McCain's position and may now not take away the Bush tax cuts, but check it out:

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS
>
> Here is some information that will help you prepare to vote for the
> President of the United States in November.
> Subject: Presidential Candidate Comparisons - Important Information
> for all voters
> (Documentation listed below)
> 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS
>
>
>
> CAPITAL GAINS TAX
> MCCAIN
> 0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not
> propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
> OBAMA
> 28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you
> sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on
> taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-
> size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money
> you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will
> adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from
> their homes as part of their retirement income.)
> DIVIDEND TAX
> MCCAIN
> 15% (no change)
> OBAMA
> 39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in
> stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance,
> retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends,
> you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if
> Obama becomes president. The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates
> on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do
> absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.')
> INCOME TAX
> MCCAIN
> (no changes)
> Single making 30K - tax $4,500
> Single making 50K - tax $12,500
> Single making 75K - tax $18,750
> Married making 60K- tax $9,000
> Married making 75K - tax $18,750
> Married making 125K - tax $31,250
> OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
> Single making 30K - tax $8,400
> Single making 50K - tax $14,000
> Single making 75K - tax $23,250
> Married making 60K - tax $16,800
> Married making 75K - tax $21,000
> Married making 125K - tax $38,750
> Under Obama, your taxes could almost double!
> INHERITANCE TAX
> MCCAIN
> - 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
> OBAMA
> Restore the inheritance tax
> Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that
> have been in their families for generations because they could not
> afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones
> will only lose them to these taxes.
> NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
> New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square
> feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New
> taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water,
> electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not
> least....New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive
> the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> You can verify the above at the following web sites:
>
> http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index.html
> http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.html
>
> http://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes
> http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/
> mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes.html
>
> http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/
> http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

[burniegoeasily]

Add that to the repeal of the Bush tax cut, and we will be getting hammerd.

[tsoc]

There is absolutely no question in my mind that a win by Obama has us all with less money in our pockets!!!!

[bugsNbows]

Two words.............. McCain / Palin. Nuff said!

[RainmakerIII]

ORIGINAL: tsoc

There is absolutely no question in my mind that a win by Obama has us all with less money in our pockets!!!!

Umm, Not so Fast! America taxes corporations at the second highest rate in the world, but collects the fourth-lowest amount of corp tax revenue. WHY? Loopholes, Special Deductions, Tax Credits, Subsidies, and Shelters. Politically influential industries get special deals, distorting investment decisions and forcing overall tax rates higher than they need to be.

Over the course of his Campaign, McCain has consistently chosen granting tax breaks for industry and wealthy donors. He proposes cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, costing $100 billion a year, but fails to eliminate a single corporate tax break. A 25% rate would be below the rate of other countries and the lowest among G-7 countries. McCain does not stop there. He will let companies immediately write off all investment in equip and technology. Companies would get an immediate up-front deduction for their investments, rather than being forced to deduct their cost over time. The change is very valuable for companies because a $100 deduction today is worth a lot more than $10 per year for 10 years. For the same reason it is very expensive for the treasury....to the tune of about $75 billion per year.
McCain will go further and repeal the AMT entirely. This approach would cost $60 billion more per year, and 57% of that money would flow to the top 1% of housholds. Once again america gets the shaft. To pay for his $300 billion a year in tax cuts, he would freeze descretionary spending, not on defense and vetrans of course, saving about $15 billion but hurting good programs.
Depending on how you think, McCains agenda is either empty or terrifying. It is empty in the sense that he offers an array of budget-cutting gimmicks that dwarf Reagans magic asterisk. His tax cuts are terrifying because, they would eventually trigger a budgetary crisis that transforms deep spending cuts from unthinkable to inevitable.

McCains strength as a candidate is rooted in his claim that he is a man who talks honestly and stands up to special interests. But now, on the central issue of this election, he has an agenda that does neither. With corporate giveaways and phony freezes and scrubs, McCains tax agenda undermines his core political appeal. He can only avoid these facts, because he cannot and will not defend them.

[DougMD]

Lower tax rates increased tax revenues during Kennedy, Reagan and Bush. Obama acknowledged this, but stillwants to jack up taxes on millions of people because of 59 hedge fund managers. Also, it is no secret that jacking up taxes (costs) to corporations will flow through to the goods and services we consumers pay for. While the rhetoricsounds great to sock it to the corporations that provide jobs and investment for people in this country, reality is the consumer gets hit.

[RainmakerIII]

We are getting it now..DUH, You surely wouldn't want the Americans to keep waiting for some trickle down economic plan? It won't happen. I think you can see how this mindset is not working.

[burniegoeasily]

Rain
Keep telling yourself that Obamas idea of Hoovernomics will work. I guess neither you or Obama remember history.

[Fieldmouse]

Umm, Not so Fast! America taxes corporations at the second highest rate in the world, but collects the fourth-lowest amount of corp tax revenue. WHY? Loopholes, Special Deductions, Tax Credits, Subsidies, and Shelters. Politically influential industries get special deals, distorting investment decisions and forcing overall tax rates higher than they need to be.

Wrong but why does that not surprise anyone on this board.

Over the course of his Campaign, McCain has consistently chosen granting tax breaks for industry and wealthy donors. He proposes cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, costing $100 billion a year, but fails to eliminate a single corporate tax break. A 25% rate would be below the rate of other countries and the lowest among G-7 countries. McCain does not stop there. He will let companies immediately write off all investment in equip and technology. Companies would get an immediate up-front deduction for their investments, rather than being forced to deduct their cost over time. The change is very valuable for companies because a $100 deduction today is worth a lot more than $10 per year for 10 years. For the same reason it is very expensive for the treasury....to the tune of about $75 billion per year.

Once again wrong. Your showing very little knowledge of basic economics. By lowering the tax burden on companies and making it cheaper to do business here in America, it gives them the incentive to expand operations here rather than somewhere else because they can make more money for the share holders. Why do you think companies are fleeing California and relocating in other parts of the country? I'll give you a hint, California isn't business friendly. Secondly, by allowing a faster write off of new equipment give companies a big incentive to upgrade now rather than wait. In other words, more goods and services will get sold and thus more good paying jobs will be created.

McCain will go further and repeal the AMT entirely. This approach would cost $60 billion more per year, and 57% of that money would flow to the top 1% of housholds. Once again america gets the shaft. To pay for his $300 billion a year in tax cuts, he would freeze descretionary spending, not on defense and vetrans of course, saving about $15 billion but hurting good programs.

Once again your lack of understanding basic economics is shinning through. First, I'm positive you don't know what the AMT is and how it's even applied. However, the AMT hits more and morehouse holds inAmerica. House holds that weren't suppose to be hit when it was first implemented. Therefore, fixing it won't cost the government any money because it wasn't suppose to affect those households in the first place. Secondly, the government is the problem. They right now suck 3.2 trillion dollars out of the economy every year and 536 (=/-) people choose how best to spend that money. Quite frankly most of it is wasted anyway. It's way too much and those programs you don't want cut don't have any business being run by government. Lastly, tax cuts increase revenue into the treasury not reduce it. Bush's tax cuts have set all time records year after year with the amount of money rolling in. In fact, if they didn't do this stupid vote buying gimmick in the spring time, revenue would have grown again this year by 2.5%. Instead it only shrunk by .8%.

Depending on how you think, McCains agenda is either empty or terrifying. It is empty in the sense that he offers an array of budget-cutting gimmicks that dwarf Reagans magic asterisk. His tax cuts are terrifying because, they would eventually trigger a budgetary crisis that transforms deep spending cuts from unthinkable to inevitable.

God, I hope so!!!!!!!!!!!! FYI cuts are coming. SS is going bankrupt. Medicare is on a fast track to a train wreck and there's nothing they can do to fix it short of scraping the entire system and starting over. Do a little bit of homework for a change.

McCains strength as a candidate is rooted in his claim that he is a man who talks honestly and stands up to special interests. But now, on the central issue of this election, he has an agenda that does neither. With corporate giveaways and phony freezes and scrubs, McCains tax agenda undermines his core political appeal. He can only avoid these facts, because he cannot and will not defend them.

Funny statement coming from someone who never can back up anything with facts. McCain has no problem defending his plan and between now and election time it will continue to show. I only need to point to Obama's Tax plan 3.0. It's the third rewrite and he now says he won't raise anyone's taxes because of the weak economy. HMMMM, 3 times the charm? You can't even explain to me, how does someone who isn't paying taxes (40% of America) get their free money that they didn't earn? Will he send out monthly checks or send them out in April? If he sends them in April, how does that help the economy?

Once again look who is really paying for you to live here in America!

[Cougar Mag]

And how would anyone explain McCain's recent comment that that anybody worth $5,000,000 and less is middle class?