Obama, McCain Tax Policies Debunked
We’ve already examined them in a pop culture showdown, but John McCain and Barack Obama are as different in political ideology as they are in style.
The respective Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls have conflicting philosophies about U.S. tax policy - specifically, how to cut taxes, raise revenue needed for programs, spur growth and ensure fairness.
But all you probably care about is whether the candidates’ views impact your personal tax bill - be it for better or for worse.
Like most people, we’re not experts on economics, but we’ve made broad assumptions about the tax policies of Obama and McCain anyway:
John McCain: The average taxpayer in every income group would see a lower tax bill, but high-income taxpayers would benefit more than anyone.
Barack Obama: High-income taxpayers would pay more, while everyone else’s taxes would be reduced. Lower- and middle-income groups benefit most.
Are these assumptions on or off the mark?
A new report released on Wednesday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C., sheds some light on that question…
Basically, if you make between $66,000 and $227,000, or even $603,000, these tax cuts won’t impact you much. The differences are almost negligible.
Obviously, the people on the lower end of the spectrum could use that extra money, and it does make a difference. But for the most part, the middle- and upper-middle class remain largely unaffected, amazingly.
Whether these tax bracket shifts actually occur once either John McCain or Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office is a question for another day, as well.
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June 11th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
When you look at the math between the two, I would go with Obama on this one. Besides, the extra money from the wealthy will obviousely help with our countries deficit. But the biggest help comes when we start taxing the living daylights out of the greedy oil companies that have made billions of dollars in just one quarter of the year so far [and they still claim it's not their fault - BS].
I don’t like McCain’s tax policies because they will obviousely benefit the wealthy the most while leaving very little or nothing to the poor [and yet he claims that he cares about everyone - more BS]. From what I can see so far, the endorsement from Bush, private meetings with Bush, his endorsement from a Jew-hating priest, I don’t believe for one second that McCain cares about us. All he cares about is money and war. I think he’ll ever help this country win the war in Iraq nor make our economy strong nor help us capture or kill Bin Laden as he predicted for 2012.
If McCain wins the office this year, this is my possible prediction for 2012:
1. Bin Laden dies, not by us but by his condition [isn't he on dialysis???]. Either that or by stepping on top of his own hidden bombs in a desert.
2. The war drags on while more innocent Iraqis and US Troops die.
3. We go to war with Iran with the hopes of discovering nukes, only to find outdated and rusty military buildings [oops! we did it again!].
4. The Jamaican dollar is worth more than the US dollar [as of 2008, 20.00 Jamaican Dollars equals 0.25 American cents (a quarter)].
5. McCain’s VP goes duck hunting and accidently shoots his best friend.
6. McCain almost chokes on a pretzel.
Well, that’s my prediction for 2012 under McCain. What about with Obama finishing in 2012?
1. The war ends.
2. The pen becomes mightier than the sword once again.
3. The US dollar finally catched up with the Euro.
4. Washington DC gets an extreme makeover while the special-interest lobbyists pack their bags and go work at Walmart as cashiers.
5. The big businesses are finally taxed while the poor get more money in their wallets to help pay for their bills.
6. I think most of us will be driving either hybrids or fully electric cars by this time.
That’s it for our four-year forcast here at Quahog Channel 5 News. And now we turn to “Ollie Williams” for the weather. Ollie?
Ollie - “It gon’ rain!”
Thank you, Ollie. And more news tonight, Dianne’s weight.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I would actually disagree, I say that McCain has a huge advantage over Obama with the math as it is. McCain’s is the only thing that even in the slightest way resembles a national flat tax rate, something I believe we desperately need to save our recessing economy. Not only that, but the IRS has wasted enough of our money on our screwed up, complicated system, a good 100 billion dollars a year. Taxing the hell out of the rich and giving back to the poor through redistribution of wealth does nothing to solve the class disparities, all it does is fuel the social programs that the poor live off of to begin with. If we want any permanent increase in socio-economic status for those of lower income, we need to work towards a simpler system with lower taxes for everyone, and with the rich being taxed less, more money will flow through the private sector, which has been proven far more efficient than any redistribution of wealth done by the government. If we can continue to lower taxes for everyone, especially the rich, our GDP will increase, the prices of commodities will decline, the value of the dollar will increase, and now those formerly impoverished people will be able to work their way out of their current state, and won’t be taxed out of their minds for doing so.
Lower taxes are the way to go, and with Obama increasing the taxes for the upper class, we will see absolutely no economic improvement, just more social spending and the expansion of already failing government benefit programs.