So, I just got home from the gym. While I was working out, they had CNBC on. The sound wasn't on, but the graphics suggested that they were talking about McCain's fiscal policies.
They said that McCain wanted to lower the long-term capital gains tax rate from 15% to 7.5%. When Bush took office, this rate was 28%.
CNBC also said McCain wanted to give tax breaks to corporations to "spur growth"
Does this trouble any of you guys as much as it bothers me?
For those who don't know what the capital gains tax is, it's the tax that is levied on investment profits. Now, obviously middle-class people have some investments, but this is essentially a tax cut for the wealthy. Most of the appreciable and taxable assets in this country are owned by the wealthy, so when they decide to cash out their profits to pad their already sizable liquid net worth, the government will take less of a chunk
As far as the corporations thing goes, that really does not make any sense to me. McCain is more likely to keep defense spending high, and yet he wants to reduce taxes for those who are most able to pay. I just read an
article explaining how US corporations already pay some of the lowest corporate taxes in the developed world. And yet McCain wants to lower taxes for them, while offering no relief to lower/middle-class people who are struggling to get by because of rising unemployment, tight credit, massive debt, and high commodity costs?
President Bush inherited one of the largest budget surpluses of all time and gave it all away in an ill-conceived tax reduction. The positive effect of Bush's tax plan was minor. The economy has been lukewarm since 2000. Sure, the Dow rose all the way up to 14,000 a while back, but now we all see that was nothing but smoke and mirrors (not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I spoke to my company's chief economist when the Dow hit 14,000 and I told him that I thought the market was way overvalued).
Now, because of the poorly planned war in Iraq, our country is stuck under a massive pile of debt. Yet, McCain wants to keep fighting the war, yet reduce the government's tax revenues, thus increasing our debt burden. How does that make any sense? Aren't Republicans supposed to be the fiscally reponsible ones?
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