A condensed list of the tax cut proposals on Obama's website.
Also see Tax Policy Center: a side-by-side comparison of Obama's and McCain's proposed policies. / CNN analysis of candidate tax proposals / Wash. Post chart from speck tater (with video)
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Lower/Middle Class
- Tax Credit: up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family.
- Raise the Minimum Wage, beyond already planned increase.
- Expand Earned Income Tax Credit: up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they get today.
- Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: option of pre-filled forms.
- Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: make refundable, with up to 50% credit for expenses.
- Universal Mortgage Credit: 10% credit for non-itemizers, average of $500 per year in tax savings.
- Remove some of the government penalties on married families
Students
- American Opportunity Tax Credit: universal and fully refundable; first $4,000 per year of a college education in return for 100 hrs. community service
Seniors
- Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000
- Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families
Business
- Make the R&D Tax Credit Permanent
- Encourage Young People to Become Farmers
- Expand Locally-Owned Biofuel Refineries [not necessarily corn ethanol!]
- Extend Production Tax Credit
- Level Employer Incentives for Driving and Public Transit
Wash. Post:
Income distribution:
Proposed increases:
- Allow Bush tax cuts for the wealthy (over $200,000) to expire.
- Capital gains tax - over $100,000/yr income, applies to only 11% of those with capital gains, not to 401k
- Windfall profits tax on oil companies
Ending the war will free up billions of tax dollars, and accountability will help in restructuring the budget to pay for these cuts: Ethics reform.
Building on his "Google for Government" bill, which allows every American to do a simple search and see exactly how federal money is being spent, Barack Obama will ensure that any tax breaks for corporate recipients – or tax earmarks – are also publicly available by directing the Office of Management and Budget to post them on its website in an easily searchable format.
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.... LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS ....
Provide a "Making Work Pay Tax Cut" for America's Working Families
Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. This refundable income tax credit will provide direct relief to American families who face the regressive payroll tax system. It will offset the payroll tax on the first $8,100 of their earnings while still preserving the important principle of a dedicated revenue source for Social Security. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. The tax credit will also provide relief to self-employed small business owners who struggle to pay both the employee and employer portion of the payroll tax.
Provide a Living Wage
Obama would further raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit
increasing the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, and reducing the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low-income families.
Under the Obama plan, full-time workers making minimum wage would get an EITC benefit up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they get today. If the workers are responsibly supporting their children on child support, the Obama plan would give those workers a benefit of $1,110.
Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans
Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return.
Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Obama will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses.
Create a Universal Mortgage Credit
The current mortgage interest deduction excludes nearly two-thirds of Americans who do not itemize their taxes... This 10 percent credit will benefit an additional 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year... provide the average recipient with approximately $500 per year in tax savings.
Promote Responsible Fatherhood
Obama will sign into law his Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families
.... STUDENTS ....
Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit
This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition [per year] at the average public college or university... at the time of enrollment by using prior year’s tax data to deliver the credit at the time that tuition is due, rather than a year or more later when tax returns are filed.
Recipients of this credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of public service a year, either during the school year or over the summer months.
.... SENIORS ....
Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000
This will provide an immediate tax cut averaging $1,400 to 7 million seniors and relieve millions from the burden of filing tax returns.
Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families
Obama will expand the existing Savers Credit to match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and he will make the tax credit refundable. To help ensure that this proposal actually strengthens retirement investments, the savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts by using the account information listed on IRS tax filings.
.... BUSINESS ....
Make the R&D Tax Credit Permanent
Obama wants to make the Research and Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes.
Encourage Young People to Become Farmers
Barack Obama will also provide a capital gains tax break for landowners selling to beginning family farmers, and a first-time buyers tax credit for new farmers.
Establish a Small Business and Microenterprise Initiative
The program will provide training and technical assistance for rural small business, and provide a 20 percent tax credit on up to $50,000 of investment in small owner-operated businesses.
Expand Locally-Owned Biofuel Refineries [not necessarily corn ethanol!]
incentives for local communities to invest in their biofuels refineries, including expanding federal tax credit programs
Extend Production Tax Credit
Obama will also extend the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) for 5
years to encourage the production of renewable energy.
A credit used successfully by American farmers and investors to increase renewable energy production and create new local jobs.
Level Employer Incentives for Driving and Public Transit
The federal tax code rewards driving to
work by allowing employers to provide parking benefits of $205 per month tax free to their
employees. The tax code provides employers with commuting benefits for transit, carpooling or
vanpooling capped at $105 per month. This gives drivers a nearly 2:1 advantage over transit users.
Obama will reform the tax code to make benefits for driving and public transit or ridesharing equal.
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References (list compiled from information repeated across categories):
Family
Rural
Students
Energy
Economy Full Plan
Poverty
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tanyainsacramento adds this link: Keeping America's Promise. Includes Obama's present proposals (ideally effective now) for immediate $250 tax relief and Social Security supplements.