While John Edwards seems to be a distant third for the Democratic presidential nomination, well behind front runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he is not out of the game yet. We have discussed in previous posts how the Democratic candidates plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire, but Edwards wants to do more than just let them expire. His plan could have serious monetary consequences for investors.
According to Edward’s campaign website, the Edwards tax plan calls for an increase in the capital gains tax to 28 percent, while simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire would increase the capital gains tax to 20 percent. Obviously, this would mean investors would see a large increase in their taxes if the Edwards tax plan were to come to fruition.
Edwards does offer up some creative plans to help lower income families save for retirement, such as the “get ahead” tax credit. This credit would basically match up to $500 a year in savings for families earning less than $75,000 a year. He also is offering up other tax breaks for lower and middle class families, as is typical from Democratic candidates.
As we have brought up again and again in our posts, no matter which Democratic candidate you choose, they all want to bring higher taxes for investors. This is not really a surprise, though. Come voting time, Republican candidates will offer lower taxes, and likely offer more money in investor’s pockets, but a president should not be elected based on monetary stances alone. Voters should look at the complete picture before deciding which candidate represents the values they most desire for America. These blog posts were meant only to focus on potential economic issues that could impact investors, nothing more. Voters are encouraged to delve deeper to seek out the best candidate for them. Happy voting!
2 comments:
John Edwards has also made a lot of money off of investments, in his lifetime, and odds are that he still has "investments," so he essentially raising taxes on himself as well, which is a good thing.
I am an investor, and I have not desire to pay any more taxes than I need to - but the reality is that taxes are the cost we pay to conduct a civilized society. Wreckless tax cuts since Reagan have not been good for the country.
And, for full disclosure, this is taken directly from Edwards' site:
"Raise the tax rate on capital gains to 28 percent for the most fortunate taxpayers – taxing the investment income of the wealthiest Americans similarly to the wages of the middle class."
The middle class, including me, pay 25-28% marginal rate on income - why should the wealthiest pay only the 15% they pay on their income which comes mostly from dividends?
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