Election Issues 2: Taxes
September 13th 2008 00:59
This is a multi-part series on the issues. Hopefully my readers will gain what they need to convince their liberal friends. I’m a conservative. I’m writing this from a conservative point of view and this is not meant as journalism, but commentary.
The tax positions in this campaign are tossed around with all sorts of statistics. Both candidates in a way are treating us as dumb, but with how complicated the tax code is, 95% of us truly are. We don’t understand all the loopholes and how two companies with the same profits pay vastly different taxes.
Therefore, I’m not really going to get into the specifics of the plans, but address things more generally.
Philosophy of taxation –
Obama’s philosophy, and the garbage spouted by Democrats, is that the Bush tax cuts so far are for the rich, and that Republicans keep helping only the rich. This is true in one way: dollars. In terms of pure dollars not paid, the rich got a bigger cut. Duh, they had more to cut. In terms of percent, they went from a marginal rate of 39% to 36%. Almost 50% of Americans went to 0%. Obama believes that when you do make your way in this country and make yourself a success, you need to give it up.
However, Obama goes even farther than previous Democrats. In the past, liberals just increased taxes on the rich and claimed they were lowering it for everybody else. However, if you paid 0, you still paid . . . 0. Obama will actually give a tax credit to people who right now pay zero!.
The trick here is that he is giving credits, not deductions. A tax credit give you credit for tax paid, even if you didn’t pay any taxes at all. If you paid $1500 in taxes, Obama would then say to these “working families”, go ahead, bump that up to $2500, some rich people have paid part of your taxes for you. Then they get a check.
This is called REDISTRIBTION OF WEALTH, also known as SOCIALISM.
A tax deduction is used to reduce your taxable income, reducing how much you owe. If you overpaid taxes during the year, based on this, you get money back.
There are already tax credits to encourage certain behavior. For instance, there’s a $5,000 credit for adoption, to encourage people to do that. There are tax credits for certain cars, like hybrids. However, these are credits against money you’ve already spent, and they are never full refunds of what you spent. A typical adoption is at least $10,000, hybrid cars are usually 5 times the credit.
Obama’s credits are based on . . . nothing. You just get it for being below a certain income level.
McCain has tax credits too, but they are related to expenses, for instance for health insurance. Again, it’s a direct refund of money spent. In this case the difference is whether you get an effective 35% refund on your insurance (deduction, so it reduces your income, reducing your taxes by the percentage you pay on taxes) or a 100% refund up to a certain amount.
Besides McCain’s credits being related to money spent on specific things, the difference in his is he’s not taking it from the rich and businesses. His other tax cuts are increases in deductions.
Effect –
Obama claims he will reduce taxes for 95% of Americans. According to factcheck.org, his tax plan, which keeps changing depending on where he is, will only affect 81.3% of all households, counting the impact of higher taxes on businesses.
The Bush tax cuts have increased tax revenue by 20% over Clinton’s years, even with 9/11, Katrina, the wars, and the collapse in the dotcom bubble. America still has the highest tax rate, besides Japan, on businesses in the world, and in some states it’s higher than Japan.
Businesses don’t just absorb increased taxes. They, like any of us would, want to maintain their profit levels, so they pass it on by not giving the same raises to their employees, cutting health care to their employees and raising prices for the consumers.
So, even if you “only increase taxes on the rich”, those increases get passed down to ordinary people.
But this is key . . .
During his interview with Bill O’Reilly, Obama said he wouldn’t raise taxes on the “other 5%” and corporations if are still in a recession when he takes office. Why? He knows it would hurt the economy! So, he’s willing to slow down a good economy to redistribute wealth, knowing it would hurt it!
Consistency –
In the primaries, Obama was going to raise taxes on those making $150,000 or more. By the convention it’s $250,000 for a couple, $200,000 for individuals. In his speech it’s 95% of Americans are getting a tax break. Then just today he said in a speech that “Everyone in America will pay a lower tax rate than under Bill Clinton, everyone.”
I realize Obama is desperate right now. He feels like his thunder has been stolen. He went from descending into the Barackopolis and rocking the house (of partisans) to just one choice to make history. Today, for the first time, Rasmussen Reports has McCain ahead by 3% in their tracking poll. Yes, Gallup has had McCain up since the convention, but RR has been deadlocked at 46%, 48% with leaners. Now, McCain leads and is catching him in Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and Colorado.
So his tax statements have to change. I just don’t believe him, because the people he hung out with on his way to the Senate and what he’s said until this week, tells me he WILL increase taxes.
Obama HAS TO RAISE TAXES to provide government health care, college tax credits, working tax credits, national services tax credits, and all the other programs he has “promised.” He either has to increase taxes or not deliver these programs.
Which do you think he’ll do? If you’re intellectually honest, especially if Democrats control the House and Senate, he’ll raise taxes and push through his programs. . . .
The tax positions in this campaign are tossed around with all sorts of statistics. Both candidates in a way are treating us as dumb, but with how complicated the tax code is, 95% of us truly are. We don’t understand all the loopholes and how two companies with the same profits pay vastly different taxes.
Therefore, I’m not really going to get into the specifics of the plans, but address things more generally.
Philosophy of taxation –
Obama’s philosophy, and the garbage spouted by Democrats, is that the Bush tax cuts so far are for the rich, and that Republicans keep helping only the rich. This is true in one way: dollars. In terms of pure dollars not paid, the rich got a bigger cut. Duh, they had more to cut. In terms of percent, they went from a marginal rate of 39% to 36%. Almost 50% of Americans went to 0%. Obama believes that when you do make your way in this country and make yourself a success, you need to give it up.
However, Obama goes even farther than previous Democrats. In the past, liberals just increased taxes on the rich and claimed they were lowering it for everybody else. However, if you paid 0, you still paid . . . 0. Obama will actually give a tax credit to people who right now pay zero!.
The trick here is that he is giving credits, not deductions. A tax credit give you credit for tax paid, even if you didn’t pay any taxes at all. If you paid $1500 in taxes, Obama would then say to these “working families”, go ahead, bump that up to $2500, some rich people have paid part of your taxes for you. Then they get a check.
This is called REDISTRIBTION OF WEALTH, also known as SOCIALISM.
A tax deduction is used to reduce your taxable income, reducing how much you owe. If you overpaid taxes during the year, based on this, you get money back.
There are already tax credits to encourage certain behavior. For instance, there’s a $5,000 credit for adoption, to encourage people to do that. There are tax credits for certain cars, like hybrids. However, these are credits against money you’ve already spent, and they are never full refunds of what you spent. A typical adoption is at least $10,000, hybrid cars are usually 5 times the credit.
Obama’s credits are based on . . . nothing. You just get it for being below a certain income level.
McCain has tax credits too, but they are related to expenses, for instance for health insurance. Again, it’s a direct refund of money spent. In this case the difference is whether you get an effective 35% refund on your insurance (deduction, so it reduces your income, reducing your taxes by the percentage you pay on taxes) or a 100% refund up to a certain amount.
Besides McCain’s credits being related to money spent on specific things, the difference in his is he’s not taking it from the rich and businesses. His other tax cuts are increases in deductions.
Effect –
Obama claims he will reduce taxes for 95% of Americans. According to factcheck.org, his tax plan, which keeps changing depending on where he is, will only affect 81.3% of all households, counting the impact of higher taxes on businesses.
The Bush tax cuts have increased tax revenue by 20% over Clinton’s years, even with 9/11, Katrina, the wars, and the collapse in the dotcom bubble. America still has the highest tax rate, besides Japan, on businesses in the world, and in some states it’s higher than Japan.
Businesses don’t just absorb increased taxes. They, like any of us would, want to maintain their profit levels, so they pass it on by not giving the same raises to their employees, cutting health care to their employees and raising prices for the consumers.
So, even if you “only increase taxes on the rich”, those increases get passed down to ordinary people.
But this is key . . .
During his interview with Bill O’Reilly, Obama said he wouldn’t raise taxes on the “other 5%” and corporations if are still in a recession when he takes office. Why? He knows it would hurt the economy! So, he’s willing to slow down a good economy to redistribute wealth, knowing it would hurt it!
Consistency –
In the primaries, Obama was going to raise taxes on those making $150,000 or more. By the convention it’s $250,000 for a couple, $200,000 for individuals. In his speech it’s 95% of Americans are getting a tax break. Then just today he said in a speech that “Everyone in America will pay a lower tax rate than under Bill Clinton, everyone.”
I realize Obama is desperate right now. He feels like his thunder has been stolen. He went from descending into the Barackopolis and rocking the house (of partisans) to just one choice to make history. Today, for the first time, Rasmussen Reports has McCain ahead by 3% in their tracking poll. Yes, Gallup has had McCain up since the convention, but RR has been deadlocked at 46%, 48% with leaners. Now, McCain leads and is catching him in Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan and Colorado.
So his tax statements have to change. I just don’t believe him, because the people he hung out with on his way to the Senate and what he’s said until this week, tells me he WILL increase taxes.
Obama HAS TO RAISE TAXES to provide government health care, college tax credits, working tax credits, national services tax credits, and all the other programs he has “promised.” He either has to increase taxes or not deliver these programs.
Which do you think he’ll do? If you’re intellectually honest, especially if Democrats control the House and Senate, he’ll raise taxes and push through his programs. . . .
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Comment by S.L.
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