Know the candidates tax proposals before you vote

Today we have one of the most contentious and polorizing political campaign in hisotry unfolding before our eyes. President Obama and Mitt Romney had very different approches as to how we can grow our economy and bring it back from the worst recession since the great depression.

The recovery from the worst recession since the great depresssion has also been one of the most staganant. While the unemployment rate has dropped from the very high levels in 2010, they have only done so because so many millions of americans have dropped out of the workforce entirely. To fix this the government needs to reform our tax system to manage the federal deficit and to encourage job creation.

Accoring to the White House, President Oama supports raising income taxes paid on wealthier individuals and closing corportate loopholes for oil companies and companies that send jobs overseas. He says that by raising income taxes on high income earners and some small businesses the deficit will be decreased by $1.5 Trillion by the end of the decade. According to forbes, the President's plan also means that the capital gains tax will increase from 15% to as much as 23% However, the Affordable care act imposes tax increases of up to $2,300 for uninsured families.

Mitt Romney calls for maintaing the current Bush tax cuts and an across the board tax decrease of 20% for all working individuals. To encourage investment and market participation he opposes any increase in capital gains and dividend tax for wealthy individuals and wants to eliminate capital gains taxes for middle income americans. Because the United States has one of the highest corportate income tax in the world and has forced the US to be less competitive he wants to lower corporate tax rates from 35% to 25%. Also, he proposes that income tax deducitons for wealthy individuals and corporations be cut in order to stay revanue neutral.



Sources: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/feeonlyplanner/2012/09/17/will-you-pay-the-new-obamacare-tax/
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/tax