Compare and Contrast: Obama & McCain on Taxes

I generally forego the pleasure of reading the Wall Street Journal because, frankly, it's not in my budget. But this week I've obtained it for free a couple of times while staying at Embassy Suites in Charleston, WV during a workshop my wife is attending.

Today's WSJ has an editorial on the Obama tax plan on A13. It was interesting.

I have two quotes:

The McCain plan would lead to deficits the like of which we have never seen in this country. It would take money from the middle class and from future generations so that the wealthy can live better today

And then there's this...

The Obama plan would dramatically simplify taxes by consolidating existing credits, eliminating the need for millions of senior citizens to file tax forms, and enabling as many as 40 million middle-class filers to do their own taxes in less than five minutes and not have to hire an accountant.

The paper goes on to say that Obama's tax plan would be good for small business, and that while it would raise taxes on the top 1% of household, those richest tax filers would still pay less than they did in the 1990's.

Conservatives have cried and whined about one aspect of the Obama tax plan in particular. Obama's plan would not raise taxes on single individuals making up to $200,000 a year or on couples making up to $250,000. Conservatives see this as a marriage penalty for single individuals making more than $250,000 in joint income. Those individuals would be better off under the Obama plan, from a tax standpoint, to avoid marriage. Some among the Religious Right argue that the Obama plan would aggravate the break down of marriage as an institution in America.

I laughed when I read that. Anybody man that can look at a woman and say, "Honey, you know we'd be better off if we just lived together... we'd save on our taxes!" can't view marriage as being particularly important to his religion - especially when together they'd be making a quarter of a million a year as a household. Give me a break...