As ThinkProgress reported, CNN on Tuesday showed a deceptive chart which wrongly suggests that John McCain's tax plan provides more Americans with greater savings than that offered by Barack Obama. But CNN's upper-crust income brackets, which start at $161,000 and represent only 5% of taxpayers, conceal the inescapable truth that Barack Obama's proposals offer working and middle class Americans steeper tax benefits at every income level up to $110,000. And according to a new Gallup poll released this week, that truth isn't lost on American voters.

By 48% to 43%, Americans surveyed by Gallup say Obama would better handle the issue of taxes than John McCain. And with good reason. As the Washington Post detailed, an analysis by the Tax Policy Center showed:

"Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy."

Those whose income is under $67,000 - 60% of all American taxpayers - would see substantially larger tax cuts under the Obama plan. While McCain's plan concentrates 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans, Obama's rollback of the Bush tax cuts above $250,000 produces tax increases for that group.

Sadly, Obama's story is not getting through. In the face of the TPC's analysis showing that 95% of American taxpayers would see savings under the Obama tax plan, 53% of the Gallup respondents wrongly believe their tax burden would increase under President Obama. Meanwhile, despite the same analysis showing McCain's plan to make permanent and expand the Bush tax cuts would produce a staggering $2.8 trillion in red ink for the federal budget, the Republican still claims the mantle of fiscal discipline.

And to be sure, CNN did American voters no favors today.

Crossposted at Perrspectives.

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112 comments

Well, duh. Only the wealthy prospered in the Bush years. Meanwhile, the middle class is dying. Thanks for nothing Bush!

if obama does get into office.....i hope he doesn't get talked out of this
tax policy. wall street and k-street will work him hard. i'm counting on him and his message.

Well, CNN is certainly has been biased for a long time now. I prefer MSNBC since they seem to actually try to be somewhat neutral. Sure, they have some Republican scumbags on air but they actually get debated and defeated on-air which is more than can be said about the other networks.

By the way, remember all that clamoring for Evangelicals to PRAY FOR A DISASTER during the Democratic Convention, and then their PRAY FOR RAIN during Obama's speech. Well, well, well, God must not like Republicans claiming they represent his Divine Grace.

Check this out from the NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/143014.shtml?5day#con...

Uh Oh... MAJOR hurricane heading into the gulf and directing its eye at the HEART OF OIL RIG country in the Gulf of Mexico. It also looks like it will menace New Orleans. Hmmmm..... is GOD sending a message he is ANGRY with Republicans? How CONVENIENT and ISN'T IT SPECIAL the hurricane will strike during their convention?

I don't see any hurricanes hitting during the Democratic Convention... God must not be ANGRY with Democrats, huh?

Distortion and CNN have become synonyms. I'm disgusted the way CNN is distorting the sentiment at the Democratic National Convention and will absolutely NOT watch it on their propagandist channel. I'm totally sick of Campbell Brown - the GOP's private attack dog - pretending to moderate the convention in as upbeat a way as possible and then throwing in cynical and sarcastic digs. What was totally repulsive was when she and her cohort took the "unsolicited comments" from some fictitious caller in order to swing the conversation to some GOP "hit" on Obama. This is ridiculous and needs to be stopped.

As for me, I prefer to watch it live on CSpan and without the commentary of button-pushing sensationalists like the CNN commentators. Soon I will boycott CNN entirely - just like Faux News - they've become the reichwing's new megaphone.

What the are doing during this convention is appalling if you ask me. Campbell Brown is not just a pedestrian sycophant; she's the quintessential media whore.

Looks to me like you would only see a tax INCREASE under Obama's plan if you make more than $603,402...I'm hoping my raise this year won't push me into the $603,403 and up crowd! Actually, boss, if you're reading this.....feel free to raise my income to $603,403!

Are there ANY Repug policies that Americans prefer ?

2000 should have been a slam dunk
2004 should have been a slam dunk
2008 should be a slam dunk

what's wrong with the Dems ?

P.D. @ 1:

Well, duh. Only the wealthy prospered in the Bush years. Meanwhile, the middle class is dying. Thanks for nothing Bush!

What George Bush and his cadre of criminals called the GOP have done to the Middle Class of this country is nothing short of "criminal". He will be known throughout history as being the most criminal as well as the most horrendous president ever.

The headline of a Washington Post article read:

"Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds."

But while the headline focused on Sen. Barack Obama, the article itself reported that the Tax Policy Center found that Sen. John McCain's tax plan would add $5 trillion to the national debt while Obama's plan would add $3.4 trillion.

Math Equations for idiots

5 > 3.4 (Wow 5 is bigger)

5 - 3.4 = 1.6 (wow there is a difference)

Problem solved an extra 1.6 trillion to the national debt!

McCaint Remember @ 6:

Are there ANY Repug policies that Americans prefer ?

2000 should have been a slam dunk
2004 should have been a slam dunk
2008 should be a slam dunk

what's wrong with the Dems ?

The "slam dunk" which was indicated by the popular vote was downright 'HACKED' with the help of a criminal named Kenneth Blackwell, State Sup of Elections and head of Bush/Cheney 04 in Ohio - that's what happened with the obvious "slam dunk"....and the bastards are planning to steal the election this time again. Never underestimate the diabolical nature of criminals; these republicans have their lives and fortunes to lose when they are brought down. They will stop at nothing to ensure that McTwinMcSidekick gets into office. Count on it.

osiris @ 9:

McCaint Remember @ 6:

Are there ANY Repug policies that Americans prefer ?

2000 should have been a slam dunk
2004 should have been a slam dunk
2008 should be a slam dunk

what's wrong with the Dems ?

The "slam dunk" which was indicated by the popular vote was downright 'HACKED' with the help of a criminal named Kenneth Blackwell, State Sup of Elections and head of Bush/Cheney 04 in Ohio - that's what happened with the obvious "slam dunk"....and the bastards are planning to steal the election this time again. Never underestimate the diabolical nature of criminals; these republicans have their lives and fortunes to lose when they are brought down. They will stop at nothing to ensure that McTwinMcSidekick gets into office. Count on it.

And they have corporate, fascist american corporations who have mucho dinero to lose if Obama gets in......you KNOW the frauds will be out in droves in November - doing everything within their power to hack this election.

The world knows that Reslugs are habitually known as liars and can't ever be trusted so, they are only fooling other Stupid, uneducated Reslugs.

Oh come on now! You really can't upset the right wingnuts with the facts! Their heads will explode!

Look, anyone with even a room temperature IQ who is even remotely socially out with others knows without a shadow of a doubt that the polls are definitely NOT 50/50. In fact, since there are only 28% registered republicans at this point (the third party in terms of numbers) how in the hell do they think they're pulling the wool over our eyes with that lie?

Fact: Only an election which "appears" (operative word here) to be a dead heat can be hacked without causing riots in the streets of this country. Fact: It becomes a matter of national security then to present illegitimate poll numbers in order to make the hack not look suspicious.

Fact: If there are 36% registered Democrats and 34% registered Independents, that leaves only 28% registered repukes and 2% undecided. There is NO WAY THIS MATH WORKS.

Do not believe one word of the polling information from here on in. The GOP owned pollsters are "putting in the fix" right now. Then they will go to work like they did in Ohio while we slept and Ken Blackwell ran his tabulations into a server in a bank building in Tennessee where they rigged the results and also rigged the infamous "exit polls" to match those results. BE NOT FOOLED, PEOPLE.

Quick calculations suggest that 33% to 38% of those pro-McBaners are idiots.

No surprise there.

Personally, I don't think the tax increase goes far enough on those earning over the highest mark. Seeing some of the salaries of CEO's approaching $100 million, those people should be taxed at around 70-80%, especially since they are paying their employees squat. Sure it seems like a lot, but if you were making $80 mil, you would still bring home over $6 mil at the 80% mark. I just don't think any of us would have a problem surviving at that yearly income. Plus it would send a message to these new Robber Barons to stop gutting their companies.

Part of the deception of the graphic is from the "average cut" - (the bottom row). To calculate this the authors simply averaged all of the brackets, weighting them equally. If the brackets were weighted according to the number of people in each bracket, a more accurate way to do this, then it would be clear that Obama has the better tax policy.

I quote"but I didn't have a home for 5 1/2 yrs" so you have to vote for me cause I was a pow

I stand corrected: I just checked www.independentvoters.org and discovered that the number of Independents has swelled to 40% now. This means that the I's have even eclipsed the number of registered Democrats and hold the distinction of now being the largest voting bloc.

40% Independents
36% Democrats
24% Repukes

IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT FOR THE GOP-IGS!

osiris @ 18:

I stand corrected: I just checked www.independentvoters.org and discovered that the number of Independents has swelled to 40% now. This means that the I's have even eclipsed the number of registered Democrats and hold the distinction of now being the largest voting bloc.

40% Independents
36% Democrats
24% Repukes

IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT FOR THE GOP-IGS!

I think the propagandist media needs to supply an explanation here to the american people about the perpetuation of the outright myth that McSame and Obama are tied. It's not statistically possible regardless of how you dice it.

It looks like even Obama's plan is going to result in a decrease in federal revenue. Is that really what they want to tackle these insane debts? His plan is far, far superior, and it goes a ways towards levelling the playing field, but he still has a task ahead of him to design a budget that can accommodate this tax system.

Come on, Stewart/Olberman/Colbert, don't let this slide through the cracks...

a 50/50 race means only one thing since it's a total fallacy - it means that the "fix is in" and our votes will be hacked in November by the criminals within the Republican party.

No wonder the repigs hate me, I'm not freakin' rich.
Another reason might be that I refer to republicans as "repigs."

No wonder the radio talking shills (Limbaugh, Hannity, Weiner Savage, Boortz, Reagan, etc, etc) don't want Obama.

But ... but ... McSenile is a former POW! (Gasp, sputter ...)

More specifically, what are those sneaky fuckers ABC, who were behind Clinton hit-job The Paths to 9/11 and THAT debate, up to??? I smell a rat.

Did anybody see this little gem..

” Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the team of nearly two dozen staffers at the opposition headquarters will be “fact-checking” statements made by the Obama campaign and by speakers during the convention.

“Just consider this the Ministry of Truth,” quipped Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. ”

http://www.politicswest.com/28818/republicans_set_war_room_near_downtown

Any of you ever read the book, 1984, by Orwell ????

And of course the higher tax brackets will whine and complain about how the government is steal their money when they still net about 3-4 times more than the average American will gross this year.

Look for McCain supporters to tout the bottom line "average cut" of 2% versus Obamas' .3%, another woefully misleading
"fact" when viewed in the context of the greater number of Americans positively affected.

Zenrage @ 29:

And of course the higher tax brackets will whine and complain about how the government is steal their money when they still net about 3-4 times more than the average American will gross this year.

The percentage of the population in the top two brackets are less than 3% and most of them work for corporations.

Democracy is when 3% of the population controls the other 97%. Ones that fail - that is.

Thanks. This is now a handout for my neighbors.

CNN is corporate media and has a vested interest, as they all do, in deceptive presentation of Obama's Tax plan since all of their executives and on-air talent would be effected by Obama's elimination of Bush's tax cuts for individuals making over $250,000 a year.

One area of McCain's proposals that really stands out to me is the part of his energy plan that calls for the building of 45 new nuclear power plants.

At an average costs of $8.5 Billion per power plant his proposed 45 new nuclear power plants would cost about $380+ Billion dollars.

That would leave little for funding alternative fuels sources, not to mention that these plants are usually built with Federal and State tax dollars... yet he says he won't raise taxes!

So where does he propose getting this kind of revenue stream from... more "borrow and spend" national debt spiking borrowing?

Worse yet...

1. Those plants take on average 7 to ten years to build so not one watt of power for a decade.

2. He doesn't say which lucky state gets the waste storage site.

3. The $380+ Billion doesn't account for cost over runs, which these plants are prone to big ones, nor security for protecting these sites from terrorist attacks, nor the decommissioning costs after they have finished their 40 average life span.

CNN on Tuesday showed a deceptive chart ..

Check out ANOTHER gem of deception.

The Census Bureau issued a News Release that has been picked up by the entire MSM.

Here's an example [bold mine]:
MarketWatch: Fewer Americans without health insurance; real income gains

Fewer Americans went without health insurance in 2007 than in the prior year, while there was a gain in median household income adjusted for inflation, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The number of people without health insurance fell to 45.7 million in 2007 from 47 million in 2006, the government said in its annual snapshot. Median household income adjusted for inflation rose 1.3% to $50,233. The poverty rate hit 12.5% in 2007, compared with 12.3% in the prior year - not statistically different, according to Census.

Crunch the numbers:

Median household income adjusted for inflation rose 1.3%

Poverty rate hit 12.5% in 2007, compared with 12.3% in the prior year
(12.5 - 12.3) / 12.3 = 0.016 = 1.6% increase in the poverty rate.

So a 1.3% increase in household income IS significant.
But a 1.6% increase in the poverty rate is NOT.

And, the actual Census Bureau Report (not the "News Release") highlights the FACT that the 1.3% increase in median household income in 2007 ALMOST brings the median household income back up to 1999 levels.

BUT .. every MSM headline trumpets the Census Bureau's "News Release" ..

AND .. what's the REAL reason more Americans now have Health Insurance? Because more poverty level children are on Medicaid & SCHIP, more than compensating for the number of Middle Class Americans who have lost their coverage.

Yes .. it's election season & the ReTHUGs are HARD AT WORK ..

pffffft

I beleive McCain has a secret economic plan:

Marry a Rich Trophy Country...and all our economic troubles will be over...

I'm looking at you, UAE! Let's hook up and you can fix our budget woes and buy our national debt from that bitch, China!

Cheers,

Mike @ 28:

Did anybody see this little gem..

” Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the team of nearly two dozen staffers at the opposition headquarters will be “fact-checking” statements made by the Obama campaign and by speakers during the convention.

“Just consider this the Ministry of Truth,” quipped Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. ”

http://www.politicswest.com/28818/republicans_set_war_room_near_downtown

Any of you ever read the book, 1984, by Orwell ????

Indeed..and I'm sure most here have...they're actually referencing that book now...wow...these fascists fucks sure are proud of themselves ain't they?

super rich tax cheats. whistle blower working at european bank reveals
major league tax shelters these are the loopholes obama/biden are speaking of

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/47653-super-rich-tax-cheats

cmhmd @ 35:

I beleive McCain has a secret economic plan:

Marry a Rich Trophy Country...and all our economic troubles will be over...

I'm looking at you, UAE! Let's hook up and you can fix our budget woes and buy our national debt from that bitch, China!

Cheers,

That is PRECISELY what the "American" Military-Industrial-Complex is doing ..

You nailed it!

Barack Obama wants to give YOU a tax cut. John McCain wants to give HIMSELF a tax cut.

You people are amazing! The more I read the opinions of demoncrats on these blogs, the more I realize that education is the number one problem in this country and these blog comments certainly demonstrate it. Do any of you ever ask why these candidates come up with the policies they do? Not that I am a McCain fan, this diagram only shows you INCOME tax proposals. It mentions nothing of the other forms for generating income or wealth and how each candidate plans to tax those items. There are only 3 ways to generate wealth or income: Land, Labor, & Capital. This means there are only 3 ways for the government to generate revenue. The chart above only shows you each candidate's plan on taxing LABOR. It mentions nothing of proposed taxes on LAND (ie Real Estate or Estate) or on CAPITAL (ie: Capital Gains) taxes. Obama also has a plan (that is not mentioned) to also increase capital gains taxes to their historic maximum of 39%. This represents all dividends, stock , Bonds, and all assets held longer than 1 year. This means those struggling busines owners who happen to have grown their business from nothing to something will have to pay Uncle Sam almost 40% of their profits if they wish to sell their business to someone else. Or how about all those boomer retirees who will be selling their stock 401K/IRA holdings to live on? Or how about all those retirees who will be using their 401K/IRA stock or bond income to live on.....that's 40% to the government, the get what's left.....even if their INCOME tax rate would be lower. Or how about when they die, the government takes 40%! I don't know about you but that doesn't seem fair. What did the government do in this partnership to earn 40%?

I am sure most of you were sick the day they taught economics in high school but I want to let you know that those in the top 3 tiers of income employ the majority of those in the bottom 6 tiers. There is nothing wrong with taxing the wealthy but if you are, make sure you prepare yourself the market/economic reaction when those top 3 tiers decide to move their business (LAND, LABOR, & CAPITAL) to another country or just merely pay the tax rather than employ more people. Additionally, don't you think that the rich will stop paying themselves INCOME and move the assets to CAPITAL or LAND. Remember, the government doesn't earn a dime from anyone that is not working! In fact, the government incurs an expense when people are not working. Less people working means less government tax revenue...which means a higher budget deficiet. If politicians don't have any money to work with, their job is inherently useless.

I think the "why" of Obama's plan is try to equal the forces of wealth and redistribute wealth evenly. I think his fault is that he believes the wealthy will not change their behavior and merley keep the same number of people employed and keep their company moving along. Taxes are an expense boys and girls....expenses are passed along to the consumer in higher prices.

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

This kind of 'supply side' thinking has done nothing except balloon our deficits and national debt. It is "voodoo economics" as the elder Bush called it when he ran against Reagan in 1980. It doesn't work!

Here's a nice graph that proves it:

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

You people are amazing!

Well, thank you!

The real story on Obama's plans:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200806120006

Cheers,

my understanding is that obama's taxation proposal will be a rollback
to clinton years......?

I passed this graphic on to a Republican family member and she was quite surprised. You can copy and paste it into an email message if you'd like. Peace.

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

You people are amazing! The more I read the opinions of demoncrats on these blogs, the more I realize that education is the number one problem in this country and these blog comments certainly demonstrate it. Do any of you ever ask why these candidates come up with the policies they do? Not that I am a McCain fan, this diagram only shows you INCOME tax proposals. It mentions nothing of the other forms for generating income or wealth and how each candidate plans to tax those items. There are only 3 ways to generate wealth or income: Land, Labor, & Capital. This means there are only 3 ways for the government to generate revenue. The chart above only shows you each candidate's plan on taxing LABOR. It mentions nothing of proposed taxes on LAND (ie Real Estate or Estate) or on CAPITAL (ie: Capital Gains) taxes. Obama also has a plan (that is not mentioned) to also increase capital gains taxes to their historic maximum of 39%. This represents all dividends, stock , Bonds, and all assets held longer than 1 year. This means those struggling busines owners who happen to have grown their business from nothing to something will have to pay Uncle Sam almost 40% of their profits if they wish to sell their business to someone else. Or how about all those boomer retirees who will be selling their stock 401K/IRA holdings to live on? Or how about all those retirees who will be using their 401K/IRA stock or bond income to live on.....that's 40% to the government, the get what's left.....even if their INCOME tax rate would be lower. Or how about when they die, the government takes 40%! I don't know about you but that doesn't seem fair. What did the government do in this partnership to earn 40%?

I am sure most of you were sick the day they taught economics in high school but I want to let you know that those in the top 3 tiers of income employ the majority of those in the bottom 6 tiers. There is nothing wrong with taxing the wealthy but if you are, make sure you prepare yourself the market/economic reaction when those top 3 tiers decide to move their business (LAND, LABOR, & CAPITAL) to another country or just merely pay the tax rather than employ more people. Additionally, don't you think that the rich will stop paying themselves INCOME and move the assets to CAPITAL or LAND. Remember, the government doesn't earn a dime from anyone that is not working! In fact, the government incurs an expense when people are not working. Less people working means less government tax revenue...which means a higher budget deficiet. If politicians don't have any money to work with, their job is inherently useless.

I think the "why" of Obama's plan is try to equal the forces of wealth and redistribute wealth evenly. I think his fault is that he believes the wealthy will not change their behavior and merley keep the same number of people employed and keep their company moving along. Taxes are an expense boys and girls....expenses are passed along to the consumer in higher prices.

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

What really doesn't seem fair to me is our Republican friends are spending money like there is no tomorrow with only recent oversight by a Democratic congress and leaving the bill to be paid by our children and grandchilder. Let's leave out off the argument about the legitimacy of the occupation. It's $10 Billion dollars a month in borrowed dollars every month. That is $5000 a second. It the time it took me to read your novel, $1.5 millions dollars were spent in Iraq. All these dollars are borrowed with no plans to pay it back other than inflation. So tell me how McSidekick is going to resolve this issue by giving even more away to people who don't need it. I'm sure they will but another Mecedes and that will generate a job or two. It does not solve the problem of our national debt and how weak it leaves our economy.

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

You people are amazing! etc etc Not that I am a McCain fan, etc etc

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

Lucky you said at the beginning you weren't a McCain fan, otherwise people might have made that completely incorrect assumption. You know, with the usage of words like 'demoncrat', and the drippy paragraph of fluff you closed this laughable diatribe with.

Lucky also that you are able to read Obama's mind so you can reveal his super-secret tax plan. much like you could read the minds of all the 'demoncrats on these blogs', in order to know that they were 'demoncrats'. No doubt you deduced they're all from the USA, as well.

So, Professor Stanwyck, did you gain your considerable economic prowess by using those mind-reading skills on Ben Stein?

MountainMan23 @ 34:

CNN on Tuesday showed a deceptive chart ..

Check out ANOTHER gem of deception.

The Census Bureau issued a News Release that has been picked up by the entire MSM.

Here's an example [bold mine]:
MarketWatch: Fewer Americans without health insurance; real income gains

Fewer Americans went without health insurance in 2007 than in the prior year, while there was a gain in median household income adjusted for inflation, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The number of people without health insurance fell to 45.7 million in 2007 from 47 million in 2006, the government said in its annual snapshot. Median household income adjusted for inflation rose 1.3% to $50,233. The poverty rate hit 12.5% in 2007, compared with 12.3% in the prior year - not statistically different, according to Census.

Crunch the numbers:

Median household income adjusted for inflation rose 1.3%

Poverty rate hit 12.5% in 2007, compared with 12.3% in the prior year
(12.5 - 12.3) / 12.3 = 0.016 = 1.6% increase in the poverty rate.

So a 1.3% increase in household income IS significant.
But a 1.6% increase in the poverty rate is NOT.

And, the actual Census Bureau Report (not the "News Release") highlights the FACT that the 1.3% increase in median household income in 2007 ALMOST brings the median household income back up to 1999 levels.

BUT .. every MSM headline trumpets the Census Bureau's "News Release" ..

AND .. what's the REAL reason more Americans now have Health Insurance? Because more poverty level children are on Medicaid & SCHIP, more than compensating for the number of Middle Class Americans who have lost their coverage.

Yes .. it's election season & the ReTHUGs are HARD AT WORK ..

pffffft

Good Catch!

Bush and Cheney put a "political officer" into every agency and now we are seeing the results. Stalin did the same thing with a "party officer" in every branch of the government and the military.

osiris @ 7:

P.D. @ 1:

Well, duh. Only the wealthy prospered in the Bush years. Meanwhile, the middle class is dying. Thanks for nothing Bush!

What George Bush and his cadre of criminals called the GOP have done to the Middle Class of this country is nothing short of "criminal". He will be known throughout history as being the most criminal as well as the most horrendous president ever.

Then the middle class knows how it must vote, if they want this Bu$h cabal rape and pillage to stop. Suck it up and vote for the Democratic party; plain and simple.

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

If you are making your entrepeneurial decisions based upon whether the top marginal tax rate is going up 5% or so, then you are, to use the current vernacular, retarded.

For a historical perspective on tax rates, go here:
http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

And even Ben Stein has given up on the supply side crapola:
http://cmhmd.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-mccain-could-do-about-taxes-ben.html
and here:
http://cmhmd.blogspot.com/2008/02/tax-cuts-dont-boost-revenues-printout....

And TR had some opinions on the passively wealthy:
http://jeffweintraub.blogspot.com/2006/06/teddy-roosevelt-adam-smith-on....

And finally, just to give some perspective on what kind of incomes we're talking about here:
http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032007/hhinc/new05_000.htm

Cheers,

here's a different approach to explaining obama's tax proposal(s)....it's
governor corzine a business person and the former ceo of goldman sachs
especially if you didn't appreciate alan's explaination. alan may know more than corzine but i encourage you to listen to this interview. it's short

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=832826390&play=1

I think 4 MORE YRS of the Republican Crime Syndicate should do the trick!

40. Stanwyck

I haven't seen any proposal to raise the capital gains tax to 39%, Obama's plan will raise it to 28%, and it won't be applied to many small businesses and 401k's.

Why should someone who earns their INCOME from capital gains pay less perecentage in taxes than someone who earns income by their labor? I work full time and pay more than 30% from all my Federal taxes, State taxes, and payroll taxes combined on my income. But some trust fund kid who never worked a day in his life only has to pay 15% on income earned from selling the stocks his father left him. How does that reward hard work?

You guys act like this little tax increase on capital gains will be the end of the world, but it worked just fine back in the 90's. People weren't jumping out of buildings, and closing up shop because they had to pay a little more in capital gains taxes.

Let me teach you about economics. Supply side theory is a failure. A FAILURE!!! The logic behind it was rather stupid. Why would any business increase supply just because they got a tax break? Why would they increase supply if there is no demand? The whole idea was stupid. Demand side economics is what drives this economy. DEMAND SIDE!!! When we (the little people) have more money in our pockets, we tend to spend that money. That increases demand. If any investor worth his salt is smart they would then invest the capital to increase supply to meet that demand. Your argument is that the investor doesn't want to pay a few more points on his taxes so he'll sit on his money. That's stupid. If the demand for goods and services is there someone will come up with the capital because THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE!!!

God you Republicans are the dumbest creatures to walk this earth. Your theories have failed, and yet you want to keep trying them. Some people would call that insanity.

People can't help it. This is how Walmart tells them to vote. Are you trying to suggest that WALMART IS WRONG!?!

Suz in KS @ 39:

Barack Obama wants to give YOU a tax cut. John McCain wants to give HIMSELF a tax cut.

I highly contests this statement above.

"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, reported assets of between $456,000 and $1.1 million, making it unclear if he is a millionaire. He and his wife had total income of $984,000 in 2006, including $567,000 in royalties for two books he has written. In 2005, Obama received a $1.9 million book advance."

Alan Stanwyck @ 54:

I highly contests this statement above.

"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, reported assets of between $456,000 and $1.1 million, making it unclear if he is a millionaire. He and his wife had total income of $984,000 in 2006, including $567,000 in royalties for two books he has written. In 2005, Obama received a $1.9 million book advance."

Oops, you forgot to make a point, professor.

listen to that corzine interview....except for alan he doesn't need the info.
his mind is decided.

We have really got to start hit the MSM real hard, showing their biases,then we go after Hannity and his join at the hip with white supremacist Hal Turner, and we need to bring to the attention of the public that Joe Scarbrough was having an affair with an intern who then turn up dead in his congress office, come on people it's time to take the gloves off.

How is McCain going to pay for his across the board tax cut and please dont say trickle doen theory

Karl Rove @ 58:

How is McCain going to pay for his across the board tax cut and please dont say trickle doen theory

Easy, Karl. McCain is going to pay for his tax cuts by starting a war with Iran, in addition to his stated plan to occupy Iraq for 100 years.

sdv @ 16:

Part of the deception of the graphic is from the "average cut" - (the bottom row). To calculate this the authors simply averaged all of the brackets, weighting them equally. If the brackets were weighted according to the number of people in each bracket, a more accurate way to do this, then it would be clear that Obama has the better tax policy.

Absolutely, that was the first thing my roommate looked at when i showed it to him, i had to explain why it was misleading, and anytime you have to do that there is some questioning in the persons brain, which makes it seem like we are the ones distorting the facts...

PS - Why aren't there tons of videos about the protests on the front page. Have you people been watching the vids coming out on youtube and other places? It's atrocious. Oh, and awesome speech by Kucinich, god i love that man.

Trickle down economics, baby.

Good luck finding it.

Alan you just described Ronnie Regans trickle down theory and it didnt work so you should have slept through that part of economics. $01 k can be with drawn over a 10 year period and tax burden would be lessened and there is no way they tax 40% anyway back to school with you Alan

ObamaTaxCut.com is a site I made with a tool to calculate the tax cut you'll get from Obama (and what you'll save vs. McCain).

Alan Stanwick has made up for our missing one day of high school economics by giving us the equivalent of one high school-level economics lesson. Which has as much to do with economic reality as high school-level physics has to do with physical reality ("for this problem, imagine a frictionless universe").

But I was amused at how business owners went from "struggling" to "the top three tiers" ($227K and up) in the space of one paragraph. It's the American dream!

Keep those meatballs comin', Al.

ALAN you just described Regans trickle down theory and it don't work. Any incentives given to corporations to hire would just be tax breaks so they can set up shop outside the USA with cheaper labor. There goes your labor tax plan

Nobody goes far enough.

There should be a 90% wealth tax on every dollar of individual income over $3 million, received from any source. There should be NO hereditary fortunes in a democracy... Maximum inheritance, past the spouse: $1 million. Everything else, every penny not consigned to a bona fide charity by the estate reverts to the State, which supplied the conditions necessary for the accumulation of any fortune, in the first place.

And another thing:
"THE TAX BITE
The tax you owe on your traditional IRA withdrawals is figured at your regular tax rate. That's why some experts advise keeping investments you expect to grow in value, such as higher-risk stocks and mutual funds, "

This is not taxed at the capital gains rate.

Say "Uncle!"

Cheers,

constituent @ 51:

here's a different approach to explaining obama's tax proposal(s)....it's
governor corzine a business person and the former ceo of goldman sachs
especially if you didn't appreciate alan's explaination. alan may know more than corzine but i encourage you to listen to this interview. it's short

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=832826390&play=1

if you haven't seen/listen to this interview take a few minutes. it's positive.

Dear Alan...with the use of the nonsensical "demoncrats" you identify yourself as fatally biased and any valid points you
make are likely lost in the invective. I'm sure I've done the same in the past so I'm not trying to be righteous. It just seems
a shame that you would so effectively negate your own apparently well thought out argument with such a meaningless appelation.

Alan Stanwyck @ 40:

You people are amazing! The more I read the opinions of demoncrats on these blogs, the more I realize that education is the number one problem in this country and these blog comments certainly demonstrate it. Do any of you ever ask why these candidates come up with the policies they do? Not that I am a McCain fan, this diagram only shows you INCOME tax proposals. It mentions nothing of the other forms for generating income or wealth and how each candidate plans to tax those items. There are only 3 ways to generate wealth or income: Land, Labor, & Capital. This means there are only 3 ways for the government to generate revenue. The chart above only shows you each candidate's plan on taxing LABOR. It mentions nothing of proposed taxes on LAND (ie Real Estate or Estate) or on CAPITAL (ie: Capital Gains) taxes. Obama also has a plan (that is not mentioned) to also increase capital gains taxes to their historic maximum of 39%. This represents all dividends, stock , Bonds, and all assets held longer than 1 year. This means those struggling busines owners who happen to have grown their business from nothing to something will have to pay Uncle Sam almost 40% of their profits if they wish to sell their business to someone else. Or how about all those boomer retirees who will be selling their stock 401K/IRA holdings to live on? Or how about all those retirees who will be using their 401K/IRA stock or bond income to live on.....that's 40% to the government, the get what's left.....even if their INCOME tax rate would be lower. Or how about when they die, the government takes 40%! I don't know about you but that doesn't seem fair. What did the government do in this partnership to earn 40%?

I am sure most of you were sick the day they taught economics in high school but I want to let you know that those in the top 3 tiers of income employ the majority of those in the bottom 6 tiers. There is nothing wrong with taxing the wealthy but if you are, make sure you prepare yourself the market/economic reaction when those top 3 tiers decide to move their business (LAND, LABOR, & CAPITAL) to another country or just merely pay the tax rather than employ more people. Additionally, don't you think that the rich will stop paying themselves INCOME and move the assets to CAPITAL or LAND. Remember, the government doesn't earn a dime from anyone that is not working! In fact, the government incurs an expense when people are not working. Less people working means less government tax revenue...which means a higher budget deficiet. If politicians don't have any money to work with, their job is inherently useless.

I think the "why" of Obama's plan is try to equal the forces of wealth and redistribute wealth evenly. I think his fault is that he believes the wealthy will not change their behavior and merley keep the same number of people employed and keep their company moving along. Taxes are an expense boys and girls....expenses are passed along to the consumer in higher prices.

McCain wants to do the opposite. He knows he, or any government body, cannot mandate private enterprise to employ people so he attempts to give them an incentive to do so by lower taxes by lowering their expenses. In turn, he hopes more and more people will be employed earning a living, thereby giving the governement more tax revenues.

It's not so simple. John Kenneth Galbraith would have disagreed with you (maybe you skipped that day in economics?) The rich have everything to gain and nothing to lose from libertarian policies. For the middle class it's debatable. For they underprivileged there's nothing to gain by lowering taxes of the rich. But here's something to think about. If high taxes kill economies, why is the EU kicking our butt?

Heh, heh , hehhh....

I'll bet Billionaires for Bush McCain head will be popping all across America on this one.

kdaddy @ 70:

Dear Alan...with the use of the nonsensical "demoncrats" you identify yourself as fatally biased and any valid points you
make are likely lost in the invective. I'm sure I've done the same in the past so I'm not trying to be righteous. It just seems
a shame that you would so effectively negate your own apparently well thought out argument with such a meaningless appelation.

Don't worry, kdaddy. It actually turned out not to be well thought out.

alan stanwyck, you had me at "demoncrats". who pays you ?

To AS@40,
I agree with you on the Cap gains. This should really be taxed as normal income, screws up the tax code anyways and you can generally avoid paying taxes, like the ultra-rich do, by reinvesting.
On taxing the really wealthy, how many of these people actually own their own business. More than likely, they are rockstars, movie stars, or CEO's making obscene amounts by outsourcing jobs or paying low wages to their workers. If you want to see really successful companies, please look at Japan where the CEO's generally do not make over $1 million.
And last, we have seen the effects of trickle down economics and the end results from both Reagan and Shrub. Because of this economic policy, the US economy has gone into recession, only a few are well off, the national debt has ballooned under each, and in the end it took a Democratic President to right the ship.
We have had two 8 year periods of Trickle down over the last 30 years, and all it has done is destroy the overall economy.

Alan Stanwyck @ 55:

Suz in KS @ 39:

Barack Obama wants to give YOU a tax cut. John McCain wants to give HIMSELF a tax cut.

I highly contests this statement above.

"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, reported assets of between $456,000 and $1.1 million, making it unclear if he is a millionaire. He and his wife had total income of $984,000 in 2006, including $567,000 in royalties for two books he has written. In 2005, Obama received a $1.9 million book advance."

You're right!