How Much Will the Major Presidential Candidates Steal From You?
We know that taxation is theft, and we also know that whichever political candidate wins the upcoming presidential popularity contest will steal from us. The question is, how much will a President Kamala Harris or a President Donald Trump take—information we need to help us appropriately choose our fate? Fortunately, the candidates have told us something of what they have in mind, sometimes grudgingly, so we can compare their effects on the economy and our personal finances.
Digging Through Verbiage for Details
The Tax Foundation has done the hard work of digging through the servings of word salad issued by the Democratic and Republican parties’ chosen standard-bearers this year so that you don’t have to. Neither Trump nor Harris is known for being easy to pin down on details, but the Tax Foundation notes the vice president “has sketched out sufficient details of her fiscal and economic agenda for us to provide a preliminary analysis” while her opponent “has floated several tax policy ideas.” That’s enough to work from for tax purposes, especially given that both have track records—Harris in the Biden administration and Trump when he occupied the White House.
In terms of specifics, the Tax Foundation considers Harris tax proposals, including: increasing the corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent; increasing the corporate alternative minimum tax from 15 percent to 21 percent; increasing the top individual income tax rate to 39.6 percent on income above $400,000 for single filers and $450,000 for joint filers; taxing long-term capital gains and qualified dividends at 28 percent; limiting retirement account contributions for high-income taxpayers; and exempting tipped income from income taxation.
Trump proposals analyzed by the Foundation include: making permanent elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) regarding individuals, estates, and business tax phaseouts; lowering the corporate tax rate to 15 or 20 percent; eliminating the green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act; and exempting both Social Security benefits and tips from income taxes. The Foundation also considers Trump’s plan to increase some tariffs on Chinese goods to 60 percent; impose a universal tariff of 10 to 20 percent on all imports; and more.
Who Has the Better Tax Ideas?
Whether there’s a clear winner here depends on your perspective. If you’re a government employee or
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