Obama To Raise Taxes On Grandma And You
October 27th, 2008 by
Editor: Scott
Barak Obama has REPEATEDLY stated that he will “not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000″, but if you’re above that 250k “rich” line - watch out! Lets take a look at how this is a flat out LIE. Obama has repeatedly voted against extending/making permanent the Bush Tax Credits because they are “for the rich”. His current position is that he will let those credits that expire in 2009 & 2010 as they only benefit the rich. Let’s see how much more taxes you’ll pay without “raising taxes”. Because merely “letting tax credits expire” and reverting to “older” -cough- higher -cough- tax rates isn’t “raising taxes” - its different. Well its different verbage… too bad its effects are exactly the same.
1. The Child Tax Credit will return to $500 from the current $1000. Tax Increase: $500 per child.
2. The death tax after being slowly phased out to make the transition easier for the government it will jump back to 55%. While taxing inheritance seems like a good way to “get the rich”, it actually tends to hurt family businesses -like farmers- the most. The dastardly rich, you see, spend tens of thousands of dollars on estate planners (both lawyers and accountants) but shield their millions from most of this taxation through trusts, off shore investments, etc. Tax Increase: varies.
3. The Marriage Penalty will return for all income levels. This “penalty” is the fact that in dual income homes (most of America these days), couples end up paying a higher amount of taxes than they would if they were still single and paying their taxes individually. A “fair” tax system that cares about the “working man” (and working woman) would want to tax people the same if they are single or married. Tax Increase: varies but often several thousand dollars.
4. Long Term Capital Gains & Dividends Taxs rates return to 20%. This is the REAL tax that truely rich people pay. The American people have long been mislead to believe that high income = wealth. Not true. High NET worth = wealth. Warren Buffet, Gates, Trump have salary incomes sure, but this is SMALL fraction of the real money they bring in. So they pay 33% or even 40% on their salary meanwhile they pay the capital gains rate on the bulk of their income. Which means if you make $28k, you pay more than the billionares on your income! One problem though… guess who else pays capital gains and dividends taxes? Middle America - that’s right - people on pensions and savings above social security and people saving for retirements in things like 401ks. So Obama is going raise the taxes on my 90 year-old Grandma Millie living off the group of stocks and an annuity my dead grandfather left her. Obama is also going to raise taxes on the baby boomers already behind in saving for their retirement. And the worst part? The poorest people’s rates will go up the most.
| Clinton Tax Rates | Bush Tax Cuts “For Rich” |
Obama Tax Rates | |
| Poorest Two Tax Brackets | 20% | 5% | 20% |
| Everyone Else | 20% | 15% | 20% |
5. And finally the infamous income tax rates for these evil rich above $250k. I’ve highlighted all of the areas where people below that magic line are seeing a rate increase. Since the bottom rate is effected anyone that actually pays income taxes will have an increased amount of taxes paid. Now one thing that needs to be understood (since many people don’t) is that these are MARGINAL tax rates. What that means is that you pay the given rate for that part of your income in the given range after all of your other credits have been taken out. So for instance, if you are single and make $42,000 and have $10,000 in credits (standard deduction, child credits, etc) that leaves $32,000 of taxable income. So currently you would pay 0% on that first $10k, then 10% on the next $6k ($600), then 15% on the next $21k ($3150), and finally 25% on the remaining $5k ($1250). To help you see the real amounts of the Obama tax-increase-that’s-not-an-increase-its-a-credit-expiration… we list the current Bush and the coming soon Obama tax amounts for the following levels of taxable income: $20k, $40k, & $80k to give an idea of the impact on the middle class.
| Single | Clinton Tax Rates | Bush Tax Cuts “For Rich” | Obama Has Voted And Stated He Will Let These Cuts Expire | |
| $0.00 | $6,000.00 | 15% | 10% | 15% |
| $6,000.00 | $27,050.00 | 15% | 15% | 15% |
| $27,050.00 | $65,550.00 | 28% | 25% | 28% |
| $65,550.00 | $136,750.00 | 31% | 25% | 31% |
| $136,750.00 | $297,350.00 | 36% | 33% | 36% |
| $297,350.00 | up | 39.6% | 33% | 39.6% |
At $20k Bush Taxes: $2700 Obama Taxes: $3000 Increase: $300
At $40k Bush Taxes: $6,995 Obama Taxes: $7,683 Increase: $688
At $80k Bush Taxes: $16,995 Obama Taxes: $19,317 Increase: $2,322
| Family | Clinton Tax Rates | Bush Tax Cuts “For Rich” | Obama Has Voted And Stated He Will Let These Cuts Expire | |
| $0.00 | $10,000.00 | 15% | 10% | 15% |
| $10,000.00 | $36,250.00 | 15% | 15% | 15% |
| $36,250.00 | $93,650.00 | 28% | 25% | 28% |
| $93,650.00 | $151,650.00 | 31% | 25% | 31% |
| $151,650.00 | $297,350.00 | 36% | 33% | 36% |
| $297,350.00 | up | 39.6% | 33% | 39.6% |
At $20k Bush Taxes: $2500 Obama Taxes: $3000 Increase: $500
At $40k Bush Taxes: $5,875 Obama Taxes: $6,487 Increase: $613
At $80k Bush Taxes: $15,875 Obama Taxes: $17,687 Increase: $1,813
So just to recap, Obama is going to raise your taxes if you have kids, are married, have any investments, and/or make enough money that you actually file a federal tax return. So basically EVERYONE PAYING INCOME TAXES. The people over $250k… they’ll just get raised even more. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you come April 15th.
