Obama V McCain: How Will They Affect Our Personal Finances?

Now that we know who Barack Obama has chosen to be his Vice-President (Joe Biden) attention now turns to John McCain. Will it be Mitt Romney? Collen Powell? Mike Huckabee? Sam Brownback? Elizabeth Dole? Or one of many other names that has been mentioned over the past few months. I certainly am not sure, who he will pick, although I am keeping my ears close and hope to be one of the first to bring the news to you via KevinsView.com. Who knows, maybe it will be me (LOL, yeah, like that would ever happen).

However, I think it is important to look at the candidates to see how their plans would effect us.

The rich would pay more under Barack Obama's tax plan, and the poor and middle-class would pay less, a nonpartisan analysis finds. Under John McCain's plan, the rich would pay much less than they do now, the poor and middle-class would pay a bit less, and the federal deficit would grow, the study found.
- Chicago Sun-Times

So what are the plans? Let's take a look, shall we?

Senator Obama

1. Raise taxes on people making $250,000 or more
a. Obama's campaign says they aren't "raising taxes," but instead reinstating taxes. This means the current top bracket of 35% would back to 39%.
2. Obama's plan calls for no Social Security tax on income between $102,000 and $250,000 (all incomes above $250,000 would be taxed for this purpose).

The 95 percent-plus of the American population that earns less than $250,000 would see the following tax breaks:

1. A $500-per-worker tax credit for people who earn less than $150,000 and do not itemize
2. A $4,000 credit per child in college
3. No taxes for Senior Citizens who earn less then $50,000
4. leave the corporate tax rate at 35%
5. Set the estate tax (death tax) to 45% for estates above $3.5 million

McCain would make permanent most of the tax cuts President Bush has already enacted, including those that benefit the middle class, such as elimination of the marriage penalty and the increase in child credits. He would also keep cuts that benefit the wealthy, such as the elimination of the highest tax brackets. Obama would keep the breaks for the middle class but not the ones for the wealthy.
- Chicago Sun-Times

McCain

1. double the dependent exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 (for all tax brackets)
2. cut the corporate tax rate to 25%
3. set the estate tax (death tax) to 15% for estates above $5 million

Largely because his tax proposals would leave tax breaks for the wealthy in place, McCain's plan would cost the U.S. Treasury more than Obama's, the Tax Policy Center found.

The precise cost depends on whether you assume the current tax breaks would be renewed or would expire.

Assuming they would have been renewed anyway, Obama's plan would bring in an additional $700 billion in taxes over the next 10 years, while McCain's would cost the Treasury $600 billion. Assuming legislators would have let the tax breaks expire, Obama's plan would cost the U.S. Treasury $2.7 trillion and McCain's $3.7 trillion.
- Chicago Sun-Times

Now, do I agree with this? Not necessarily, but I believe the study and article was well balanced and is something worth considering. However, as the article also stated, the above estimates do not figure the costs of a continued war. Since, this blog does not get into my political views, I won't share them. Instead, I only wish to offer how each candidates plans will effect us financially.


Note: This post has been submitted to the most recent ProBlogger Group Writing Project
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