Tax+Policy

toc Ryan and   Emily =  I. What is the big picture issue? =   What are taxes? Taxation is a system of raising money to supply to a government. All governments require payments of money (taxes) from the people of the United States.  Governments use tax income to pay soldiers, police, to build dams, roads, to operate schools, hospitals, to provide food to the poor and medical care for seniors ([|MSN Encarta]).  The government has complaints coming from everyone about taxes. The people that have to pay the taxes are complaining that the tax amount is too high. In 2001, when George Bush was elected president, he put a tax cut into affect. Taxes were also raised in certain places. The ‘2001 tax cut’ is still in effect. Some people that are in power are trying to change this ([|US Treasury]). Certain civilians are taxed more or less depending on their state (amount of children, working, senior, middle class, etc.) One part of the 2001 tax cut “expanded the Per Child Tax credit from $500 to $1000 per child. It also increased the Dependent Child Tax credit” ([|US Treasury]).


=**II. What are the hot topics? **=         The budget decides where taxes are sent and spent. Recently, many civilians have been saying that the tax money is being spent the wrong places. · ** Iraq. **Some of the tax money is being used to fuel the war in Iraq, which most of America disagrees with, and they think there shouldn’t be a war in Iraq in the first place ( [|Wikipedia] ). · ** Business taxes. ** Taxes in businesses are increasing and offsetting tax cuts and increased spending ( [|Heritage] ). <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol">· ** Clean Energy. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> American citizens believe that the government is collecting taxes and spending far too much money on clean energy, or not enough clean energy. Some Americans think we can just continue to use renewable energy but that won’t work for everything ( [|American Progress] ). <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol">· ** Innovation. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> We have one of the richest economies in the world. This has happened partly because the taxes have gone to helping new companies start up. Some new companies that have helped our economy “boom” are Google, Dell, Microsoft, and Yahoo. They did not exist twenty years ago. Not all of the US economy’s concerns revolve around our budget, the capital gains are important too. “ //**Capital Gains:**// MCCAIN: 15% (no change) OBAMA: 28% CLINTON: 24% Example: If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes” ( [|Peace of Mind] ).

=III. What are the candidates' positions?= <span style="COLOR: #333333; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">( <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #df3530; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">[|AOL Members] <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #050505; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">) The graph above shows John McCain and Barack Obama's tax raises and cuts. Looking at the graph, you can compare McCain to Obama and see where they differ majorly and minorly. McCain wants to do more of an overall decrease. Infact, it doesn't show him raising any taxes. Obama on the other hand, has a major increase and another increase. Those sections are where McCain and Obama majorly differ. Obama does have a lot of decrease though, but he doesn't have as many decreases as McCain. =IV. Other Media= media type="youtube" key="WpSDBu35K-8" height="344" width="425"([|Youtube]) Barack Obama answers questions on taxes and capital gains. media type="youtube" key="X2JPbQOHEkY" height="344" width="425"([|Youtube2]) John McCain is asked questions on higher taxes for the richer by a viewer from Michigan State University. ([|South Plain Field NJ]) The family sees the taxes coming and they stop, they're frozen with fear! ([|Baltantis]) This is a scrabble board that spells taxes. I put this because both taxes and scrabble are complicated.