“I’ve heard that capital gains relief on big corporations, and maybe small ones, benefits society and I believe it. McCain offers that. Plus no tax raises for anybody. He gets slammed for favoring the rich.”

My understanding is that McCain’s proposed tax cuts would save the average CEO will between $270,000 and $700,000 in income taxes. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/784/ Perhaps that would be good for the economy–that is $270,000 to $700,000 more in the hands of a CEO to spend or invest and thereby stimulate the economy. Moreover, it provides an incentive for us all to want to work harder to earn that kind of money.

Obama’s tax plan is intended not to raise taxes on anyone making more than $250,000, and to reduce taxes for many or most with incomes below that level. Taxes on those above that threshhold will probably go up. Without asking for people to divulge financial information, I suspect these increases would affect only a small percentage of those on the bloggernacle.

I personally think spending should be cut and taxes raised on everyone after this financial crisis is passed. Our current taxing and spending patterns are simply unsustainable, and I do not think can be solved by spending cuts only or tax increases only.

And I continue to believe, apart from the inadvisability of the Iraq war to begin with, one of the worst things the Government has done is to pay for thbat war with borrowed money, to be paid back by our descendents. If the war was right, then the country should have been willing to pay for it now, rather than passing on the expense to the next generations. And if it right for us to stay there, than the next President and Congress should be courageous enough to have the American people pay for it now, either through tax increases or spending cuts.

annegb,
To the extent I’ve paid attention, neither is offering a terribly good set of tax policies. But the snippets one hears don’t do any justice to either’s proposals.

And admittedly, they’re both in a tough place. They really need to raise taxes to fund all of our financial commitments, but raising taxes in a recession has not, historically, been a terribly good idea. Seriously, though, in terms of tax policy, neither is a shining beacon of hope, although I find a lot of McCain’s proposals especially, shall we say, unpleasant.

The average income of a CEO in the Boston metro area is less than $270,000. Quite a bit less. I’m not sure how it can save him that much taxes.

Democrats lie more about taxes than anything else. You try to cut taxes by 10% across the board, and they call it a tax cut for the rich. If that’s true, then there’s never any justification for cutting taxes on anyone who earns an appreciable amount of money.

When Reagan took office, the top tax rate that he inherited from the Carter administration was 70% with tons of loopholes. Reagan cut that to 35%, and everyone said it was a “tax cut for the rich.” Then he cut it to 28%, eliminating most of the loopholes. George H. W. Bush’s highest outgoing tax rate was 31%. Clinton added two new marginal rates, 36% and 39%, making the highest rate 39%. The current highest rate is 35%.

So taxes an the rich aren’t much lower than their all-time high since the Reagan administration (i.e., the past 27 years). It’s a shame what short memory people have about taxes.

If Obama gets elected, look for him to back off of that pledge faster than he backed off of the pledge to meet with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the pledge to unilaterally pull out of Iraq.

Anyone recall how long it took Clinton to back off of his “tax cuts for the middle class” pledge?

A great many people already do not pay income taxes.

I heard a recording of Obama today saying that he would put a moritorium on his tax increases for 2 years in order to accomodate the current financial mess. That’s half of his first term with no discernable tax differences.

The other recorded blurb about his ultimate philosophy of redistribution was rather interesting.

I think it’s clear that he’s flailing for a solid tax policy to grab on to. I’m sure he’ll think something up, but I’m confident that it will look nothing like what he campaigned on, which looks nothing like what he campaigned on against Hillary, which looks nothing like he campaigned on against all the Dem potentials, etc., etc.

Personally, I’m in favor of cutting taxes on high earnings in order to make our industry more competitive with oversees industry and creating jobs at home. It seems that taxing growing companies more will 1) discourage them from growing, and 2) send them overseas faster.

My family is in a higher tax bracket. We take the standard deductions for children, interest, and charitable contributions. In our household, the parents make the money and they get to choose what it gets spent on. Can you imagine the outcry of those paying little or no taxes if those very few paying the vast majority of taxes took the same approach?

I don’t agree with many of the social programs my money pays for. I don’t agree with many of the educational mandates in the public schools. I certainly think that the war in Iraq has been mismanaged. If I’m now a part owner of a foreclosed property, why can’t I go on vacation there on a time share basis?

I kept my mouth shut when my brother-in-law was so very stoked that his family was getting a tax return double what he paid into the system. People are so very worried that social security isn’t being fully funded. Well hello, I’m having a hard enough time funding my own retirement in today’s volatile market let alone everyone else’s.

Aagh. I can’t say anymore. It’s confusing. It’s not fair. It’s the system we have, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Ed, I have no clue. My first question was about the impact of a previous administration’s economic policies on the succeeding one. I asked because I don’t know the answer.

I don’t know any small businessmen who are loaded, however. The medium ones, for want of a better term, like the local car dealerships here, seem to do okay, no matter how their salesman do. Bill does okay because he’s been doing it a long time and has established clientele and a solid reputation, but the younger guys really suffer. The company never suffers.

As I watched the debate last night, I felt that both men were talking along party lines. Obama talking about basic social programs a la FDR and he also seemed to take a punitive, resentful tone toward the middle class. McCain never answered the question about Exon getting a tax cut, he seemed like a classic Republican to me. I like that stopping spending for awhile. Obama about threw up and waxed poetic about losing funding for autism, but I think I’m with McCain on that.

Bottom line, I’m clueless.

Lots of people get more than they paid. Isn’t that an earned income thing? I recall getting refunds when I was a poor single mother and I hadn’t paid much.

My bad.

I stand corrected. My apologies to all I have maligned.

“Reagan’s supposedly good policies, which benefited Bill Clinton, who raised taxes.”
As I recall, Clinton benefited by Bush Sr. raising taxes? Bush Sr. raised taxes because Reagan put the country into a recession.
If Obama does nothing, does not extend the tax ‘stay’for the rich, the tax levels for the rich will return to the levels of the Clinton days.