| |
McCain |
Obama |
|
Income tax rates |
Permanently extend lower tax rates (wages,
dividends and capital gains) |
Roll back lower wage tax rates
for those with incomes above $250,000
Raise maximum tax rates on
dividends and capital gains from 15% to 28% |
|
Alternative Minimum Tax |
Permanent repeal |
Reform |
|
Families and Children |
Raise dependent
exemption from $3,500 to $7,000 |
“Making Work Pay” tax credit ($1,000 for
families/$500 for individuals) to offset payroll
taxes (refundable)
Expand and enhance Child and Dependent Care Tax
Credit by making it refundable and increasing
the credit rate to 50%
Expand Earned Income Tax Credit |
|
Savings |
No specific tax
proposal |
Expand
low-income Saver’s Credit—50% match for first
$1,000 saved for families with up to $75,000 in
income (refundable) |
|
Job training and
education |
Tax-free
training accounts for education and health care |
New American
Opportunity Tax Credit—credit for the first
$4,000 of college education expenses
(refundable) |
|
Overall reform |
Allow taxpayers
to pay tax under a simple alternative tax with
two tax rates, broad tax base and a large
standard deduction |
Simplify tax
filings so that most Americans can fill out
their returns quickly—moves toward a return-free
tax system for many taxpayers |
|
Estate tax |
Reform raising
exemption to $5 million and 15% rate |
Reform keeping
exemption at $3.5 million and a top 45% rate |
|
Corporate tax rate |
Lower top
corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% |
Lower corporate
rates (no specifics) |
|
Investment |
Full expensing
for investment in equipment |
Eliminate
capital gains taxes for start-up businesses |
|
Small business expensing |
Permanently
extend expansion of Sec. 179 expensing |
No change |
|
Research and development |
Permanent tax
credit equal to 10% of wages spent on R&D |
Permanently
extend the R&D tax credit |
|
Energy taxes |
Holiday for
federal excise tax on gasoline (18.4 cents) and
diesel (24.4 cents) from Memorial Day to Labor
Day |
Extend
production tax credit to renewables
Windfall Profits Tax
on oil selling above a threshold |
