Obama Tax Cut Calculator on his website now!!! Will it be discussed in the broadcast tonight?

[Windy]

Wow...

here is the link...

http://taxcut.barackobama.com/

I'm telling you...if he talks about his tax cuts tonight and points viewers to the calculator on his website well, what can I say..

PURE GENIUS!!!!

[DS1]

1. you spelled genius wrong

:D

[Dark]

2. I don't think it's working right. It lists every rebate as $0 under John McCain.

I can't honestly believe that.

[DS1]

4. I got one. Sorta

It said "You will probably not get a tax cut under the Obama-Biden plan"

Over 250k, married, 3 dependents, saving for retirement.

[hfojvt]

11. and it made no mention of the beacoup bucks you'd get from McSame

I tried it for over $250,000 just as a test.

[hfojvt]

6. not true I just ran it for $100,000-150,000

and it said $100 for McCain. At $200,000 it says $224 for McCain. I am not sure what the McCain plans are except making Bush tax cuts permanent, and I guess they don't consider those to be NEW tax cuts.

[Dark]

7. Im on a mac, so maybe that's it.

[hfojvt]

9. I figured it with children, a mortgage and retirement savings

since those seemed reasonable for a household with that income.

[DS1]

12. no, it's flash

mac/pc is irrelevant. You have to save for retirement, that's a huge tax break for both parties

[hfojvt]

3. that's been there for a while

I am not that fond of it. First, because it did not go low enough for my income. Second, because I am not sure I agree with its accuracy. It said McCain offers nothing to me, but is that accurate? Since McCain proposes making the Bush tax cuts permanent, that would save me about $200 if I was not already using the IRA deduction. Obama also proposes keeping the Bush tax cuts permanent for incomes below $250,000. So he is promising more tax cuts than he advertises there.

Third, I do not like the Reaganesque meme of tax cuts == good. When we start using their talking points, we lose more than half the battle.

[endthewar]

5. I think it's pretty obvious

that if you go lower in income, Obama will help you more than McCain. Also, it's better to do it this way to fend off accusations of welfare redistribution etc.

[hfojvt]

8. except that on my income in 2007

of $11,035 I would have paid $71 in net taxes if not for my $500 IRA deduction. A single person with no children making $15,000 pays $623 in taxes. The Obama plan only knocks that down to $123, not below zero. So he could have included something for the 16 million households who make less than $15,000.

[endthewar]

10. I doubt that his tax cut calculator is targetting people in your income bracket

because if they're voting for McCain, there's no rationalizing with them. :rofl:

[sybilll]

13. I was confused, too. Now even more confused. I started at barackobama.com

Tax plan, and clicked on FAQ to see if they were addressing
the various *floors* on who will see an increase.  It directed
me to this:  http://alchemytoday.com/obamataxcut/    With that
model, as a single mother of 3; $50,000; I pay $570 MORE under
Obama.  Someone tell me it has been hacked.  Check for
yourself, and please tell me I did something wrong, and I will
try again.  This CAN'T be true.

[sybilll]

14. Will you please explain this to me? I was going to early vote tomorrow.

But, why is BarackObama.com telling me I will owe MORE taxes? 
I only make 50K

[sybilll]

15. Alright, you don't answer neophites, I gather, where can I go for an answer?

Just asking.  

[Cerridwen]

16. As a single mother of 3, are you filing single or head of household?

Do you pay child care?

Do you have a mortgage? What is the outstanding balance?

How did you answer these on the calculator?

You're not receiving answers because many people don't know their own taxes much less yours. Only you can answer what it is you file and how it is you file it.

Unless you care to post somewhat personal information here, you're probably going to receive a lot of silence.

The calculator asks those questions, btw. How did you fill them in and did you try playing around with the different answers in various "what if?" scenarios.


edit to add: I just did the calculations on your basic premise with NO other information - whether you file single or HOH you show 500 savings via Obama's plan and only 405 savings via mccain's. All of which can change based on mortgage, child care expenses, college expenses, and retirement savings - just for a START. The calculator is basic and doesn't factor in many deductions and credits for which you may qualify.

[Cerridwen]

18. One more thing...when I went to the site you listed

(I have no idea how you got there), I typed in what you said you typed in and I received this:

Your Obama Tax Cut:
$613.76

[Cerridwen]

17. Sorry, I have to disagree.

It starts with a questionable premise. Is this based on wages, tips, etc. or AGI or taxable income?

When it talks about "annual income" is it talking about line 7, 38, or 43?

Line 7 is wages, tips, etc.

Line 38 is adjusted gross income (AGI), which is line 7 and a bunch o' calculations.

Line 43 is taxable income. That is, line 7 calculating on to line 38 with some additional calculations.

Taxable income does not equal AGI does not equal wages, tip, etc.

It's a bit too simplistic for our complex and confusing tax code.

I like the idea. I have some issues with the implementation.

Please note: this is not a slam on Obama/Biden. It's just that reducing our tax issues to a bumper sticker isn't really possible.

eta: I found a link that's a bit better and takes into account some of those issues I posted about.

http://www.electiontaxes.com/