Barack Obama Will Only Raise Taxes for Those Earning Over $250,000 Per Year: In an interview with CNBC, Barack Obama stated, “And I think that we have an economy that's been out of balance for too long, so the general principle of raising taxes on higher income Americans like myself, and providing relief to those who haven't benefited as much from this new global economy, I think is a sound one. And keep in mind on all of these proposals, what I've said is, let's make sure that we define the well-off so that we're not hitting the middle class, you know. I generally define well-off as people who are making 250,000 dollars a year or more. And that means, for example, if we raise the capital gains tax, I will exempt people who are essentially small investors, and really capture those who have done very, very well over the last two decades.” [CNBC, 06/09/08]
Less than 2 Percent of Small Businesses Would be Affected by Rolling Back the Bush Tax Cuts on the Wealthy: According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, less than 2 percent of individual tax filers who report small business income fall into the top two marginal tax rates. [
Tax Policy Center, 4/27/07]
Barack Obama is the Only Candidate to Propose Cutting the Capital Gains Tax Rate to Zero for Start Ups and Small Businesses: Barack Obama has stated, “As we make these changes, we'll be sure to encourage growth and innovation. So we'll exempt start-up companies and small businesses from capital gains to give them an added boost. Because when more Americans tap that well of opportunity, all of us are better off.” [
Barack Obama, 9/17/07] John McCain’s economic proposal lacks such a provision. [
JohnMcCain.com]
Barack Obama is the Only Candidate to Propose Tax Relief for Low and Middle Income Seniors: Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will provide an immediate tax cut averaging $1,400 to 7 million seniors and relieve millions from the burden of filing tax returns. John McCain’s tax proposal lacks such a provision. [
Barackobama.com;
JohnMcCain.com]
Obama Will Provide Real Middle Class Tax Relief. Barack Obama is the only candidate who has a real middle class relief plan – he will provide $1,000 in a refundable tax credit to working families, create a universal mortgage interest credit for homeowners who cant benefit from a mortgage tax incentive available to wealthier Americans, and create a $4,000 college tax credit for middle class families. [
Barack Obama, 11/07/07]