Visit here.
According to the tax cut calculator, I'll be receiving $1300 worth of tax cuts under Obama's plan. Under McCain's? Yeah, goose egg. The television ads for this calculator advertises that the average citizen making under $250G a year will receive three times the tax breaks under Obama than they would under McCain. Seeing that I personally wouldn't see one red cent under McCain, how can I not, on selfish motivation alone, like my odds under the other guy a little better?
Of course, I bought a home this year and already know I qualify for a $5000 tax credit as a first-time home-buyer in the District of Columbia.
All I can say is that, if Obama wins 9 days from today, next April is looking mighty fine to me.
2 comments:
I like your blog and generally don't have an issue with what you have to say but what you are talking about is, plain and simple, scary.
Here is the wikipedia post on tax distribution (gotta scroll down)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_States
In short, top 1% earn 9.1% and pay 17.4 of the tax. Top 5% earning 33.4% and pay 57.1%. The bottom 50% (less than $30,122) earn 13.4% and pay 3.3%.
We have a system of government where HALF of the earners pay almost NO federal income tax. After credits, they have (as a group) NO total income tax liability.
Once you include the people who do not pay taxes (for whatever reason), you have a system of government in which demogoging politicians pledge to raise taxes on the rich to give to the bottom half.
Right now, the rich is defined by the Obama plan as a couple earning more than $250k. Or single earning approx $140k.
Tomorrow, once the spending plans start to kick into action, the feds will need to continue to need to raise even MORE money and that baseline of $250 will shrink.
You can make whatever argument you want in favor of voting for Sen. Obama but please be honest with yourself and your readers in what you are truly advocating.
It is nothing less than class warfare.
Would you vote for Sen. McCain if he promised you an ever bigger tax cut? Don't you think the bottom 50% of earners have some involvement in the system?
I don't know what you make. I don't know much your mortgage is. But I do now that I would pay less income taxes under Sen. Obama.
But whatever I earn, it doesn't make it right that the "rich" continue to pay a share of the income tax that is close from 75% to 90% higher than their share of income.
EVERYONE needs a stake in society. Part of that is helping pay for the government.
If you disagree, please respond with what the top earners SHOULD be paying (as a % or top rate).
I do apologize if this is a bit jumbled. Got home from a Halloween party about 6 hours ago. Very late night and very little sleep.
Actually, I don't have a problem paying taxes. Sure, I'm pleased I'll be getting something of a bigger-than-usual rebate this year... but mostly because my mortgage renders me pretty damn house-poor. As did my rent before I bought this place. It's expensive to live in this town. But you're right-- that's selfish.
My point isn't that lower-income folks shouldn't pay their fair share of taxes. My point is that McCain is claiming left and right that EVERYONE'S going to be better off financially if he's in office. And that's just plain not true.
The truth is, the idea that I'll be getting such a tax break makes me a little bit nervous. I believe in a pretty good number of our government tax-funded programs (some-- not all, by any means). I'm not terribly confident that there WILL be enough funds to go around if 90% of the population is getting a break like me-- but I'm not confident of that with either candidate.
The Obama-Biden tax calculator tells a teeny portion of the story. I realize that. But it is a teeny portion of the story that may speak to some folks who are less informed about some of the other benefits of instituting a real regime change.
Would I vote for McCain if he offered me a bigger tax break? Well, no. I'm not excited about a dude who wants to continue a hopelessly culturally relativistic war, denies there's a gendered wage gap, doesn't see that the deregulation of Wall Street's caused some nastiness... and pretty much got where his is via unabashed nepotism. Nor do I want to vote a guy into office who's got the religious right, with all their barking to squelch assorted civil liberties (the sexual ones being of particular interest to me, of cours), behind him. None of that appeals to me.
However, keep in mind Obama IS planning on letting the Bush tax cuts expire... and those are tax cuts we never should have gotten in the first place.
So, perhaps my post is glib. The tax calculator is a glib campaign gimick. No doubt about it.
However, the truth is, if taxes were based on an equal percentage across all economic levels, it would not actually "fair" to the lower classes. I do, in fact, think that they should pay something-- but not as much as rich people. Here's why: if you're making, say, $40K a year and you have to fork over the exact same percentage as someone making $500K a year, you're going to have a lot less left over. If you have a great deal of expendable income, you're not going to be starving if you have to pay higher taxes. If you are already running up credit card because such large percentages of your individual income go to pay for necessities like food, shelter and, well, heat, it just doesn't make sense that you'd have to pay as much as someone who can still afford to run off to Tuscany once or twice a year, even after he or she has eaten.
But all that is pretty much moot. As I said, I'm wary of ANY tax breaks right now as our government has incurred such debt. And my tax refund is pretty much gonna go straight into my mortgage this year anyway-- so it's not like I'll be out there frittering it away to "boost the economy." But ultimately, I'd still rather vote for the guy who's willing to fork over a larger portion of his OWN earnings for the greater good.
Post a Comment