Obama's tax policies bad for the economy

Anthony Dalke, junior in Business

September 10th, 2008 - 12:00 AM
September 10th, 2008 - 12:00 AM
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This year's election offers Americans two distinct choices for tax policy: John McCain's pro-growth plan, and Barack Obama's socialistic plan.

According to the IRS:

The top 0.1 percent of income earners in the country pay 17 percent of the federal income tax revenue, even though they make only 9 precent of the country's income.

The top 1 percent of income earners in the country - incomes of at least $328,049 - pay 37 percent of the federal income tax revenue, even though they make only 19 percent of the income.

The top 5 percent of income earners in the country - incomes of at least $137,056 - pay 57 percent of the federal income tax revenue, even though they make only 33 percent of the income.

Obama wishes to further increase this discrepancy by raising income taxes on upper income earners. However, in addition to moving America closer to socialism, raising taxes on high income brackets will hurt many small businesses, since they usually pay their taxes according to individual income rates. Seeing as small businesses create two-thirds of the new jobs in America, tax increases will stifle new job growth. Does that sound like a recipe for success in a struggling economy?

And finally, we come to the corporate income tax rate. As it stands, only Japan has a higher corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. The Tax Foundation estimates that consumers and workers, not corporations, shoulder the burden of the corporate income tax. In this age of intense global competition, John McCain wants to lower the corporate rate to keep jobs in America and preserve the U.S.'s standing as the world's economic powerhouse, but Barack Obama does not.

Barack Obama's tax policies will shackle the U.S. economy and paralyze the ingenuity and dynamism of the American people. In 2008, the choice is clear: John McCain.

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