I don't plan on voting for Obama. I never did - although I'm sort of glad he beat Hillary. I roll my eyes at the e-mail forwards that say he is the anti-Christ or that he is ineligible to be president, but I'm not a fan. It seems like his whole candidacy is based on hype. Just what does he plan to do to "change" America?
I'm not really qualified to speak on how to fix health care. That's a tough nut to crack. Does it even need fixing? I'm not sure.
But I did do some reading on his tax policy because I feel somewhat qualified. I don't claim to be an expert but I do have prepared a few hundred tax returns in my day, so I have been in the trenches with "working class" America, helping them file tax returns - so naturally, I have opinions.
Obama wants to create a new tax credit of $500 to $1000, to offset the cost of payroll taxes for working class Americans. Yes, I know everyone hates having that 7.65% withheld from their checks. But that's part of being employed. What I don't understand is that Obama is also against privatizing Social Security. And yet he wants "working class" Americans not to be burdened with funding the program. Last I checked, weren't they trying to figure out a way to get MORE money into Social Security?
He wants to provide a universal homeowners credit to filers who don't itemize their deductions. Hey, Obama, we already have that. It's called the STANDARD DEDUCTION. Besides, I've done hundreds of tax returns for "working class" Americans, and the number of homeowners who are unable to itemize their deductions are few. It consists mostly of people who are close to paying off their mortgage or have already done so.
He also plans on eliminating the income tax for senior citizens earning less than $50,000. Social security income is already nontaxable for most seniors - partially taxable for those who have significant income apart from Social Security. Seniors who are generating enough income from pensions, interest, and dividends to require them to pay income tax - I think they probably have enough in the bank to get them by. I don't think eliminating income taxes for these folks is going to help anything or anybody - although it will probably win a few votes, which is the whole point, right?
He wants the IRS to send out pre-filled 1040s already containing income information for the taxpayer to verify. This eliminates the need for "working class" Americans to hire a tax preparer. (This actually eliminates jobs, Barack. Should we count this against your plan to add 5 million new jobs?) I'm also unsure how this fits in with the IRS goal of getting more Americans to e-file.
Of course, he wants to raise the tax on capital gains and dividends, because rich people need to pay more taxes. Maybe so. But some of the returns I've prepared for some of our clients scare me. Paying six figures - in federal income tax? Ouch. That has to hurt. And I'm sure there are those who pay seven, eight, nine figures. Obama taxing more heavily the people who create jobs seems like a curious way to add 5 million jobs.
My main point is that it is nice of Obama to want to ease our tax burden - but there isn't really much of a burden to ease. I am among these "working class" Americans that he speaks of - I make a good salary at a full-time job with a public accounting firm, but I'm not well off by any means. My wife doesn't work outside the home, and we have three children.
How much did I pay in federal income tax last year?
Zero dollars and zero cents.
B.O. stinks.
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