McCain vs. Obama : Taxes

Like all good Republicans, John McCain is promising to lower your taxes. Barack Obama, staging himself as a populist, also promises to lower the taxes of all but the very top income earners.

Let’s take a closer look at the details of each plan, using the analysis provided by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates_taxproposals_tpc/index.htm

How McCain and Obama will change your tax bill - Jun. 11, 2008 via kwout

Or, if you prefer pretty graphs, here is a comparative graph I put together using the numbers above. (Note that the scale is logarithmic for the purpose of easier comparison.)

A few points to note:
  1. Both Obama and McCain will cut your taxes if you earn less than $227,000 a year.
  2. Obama will provide significantly higher tax relief for those earning less than $66,000 a year (i.e. the poor).
  3. McCain will provide significanly higher tax relief for those earning more than $227,000 (i.e. the rich).

It should be noted that during the last 8 years of the Bush administration (with Republicans controlling Congress for the first 6 of those years), taxes were cut significantly (especially for the rich) and as a consequence the defecit has soared to new heights. The national debt now stands at $9 trillion.

Republicans love to explain that cutting taxes will result in more jobs, a stronger economy, and more tax revenue. The contrast between the era of Clinton in the 1990s and the era of Bush in the 2000s should put this bogus argument to rest (but of course it won’t).

Take a look at the data above and draw your own conclusion.

Filed under economics, politics : Comments (3) : Sep 8th, 2008 by tadfad

3 Responses to “McCain vs. Obama : Taxes”

  1. Paul G. Says:
    September 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    Since when do numbers MEAN anything?

  2. tadfad Says:
    September 8th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Paul, you’re exactly right. Instead of thinking about how each presidential candidate will impact our lives, let’s vote instead based upon how they make us feel.

    I mean, Sarah Palin was a Haaakey Maaam, don’cha knoooow.

  3. Paul G. Says:
    September 9th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

    And lord knows, not only can the average haackey maam make a killer tuna fish casserole, but she’s also fit (wink wink) to run our country!

    If drinking buddy bush didn’t work, lets go to another lowest common social cliche denominator!

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