Compare Your Income To Obama vs. Romney Tax Plans

[JaneyVee]

http://www.barackobama.com/tax-calculator

My tax savings under Obama is $4,800 during his 1st term vs. An $884/yr tax increase under Romney's plan.

[femmocrat]

1. K & R Very cool!

Obama's payroll tax breaks really meant a lot to us. I actually put that money aside every paycheck instead of letting it get "lost" in expenses or spending. It added up very quickly and I have a couple of thousand dollars put aside now. Thank you, Mr. President!

Welcome to DU, JaneyVee!

[JaneyVee]

2. Hi, femmocrat!

Yeah, besides the tax savings it is ridiculous that Romney's plan would even include tax hikes on the very people who just weathered a recession and continue to struggle while giving HUGE tax breaks to the top 5%. The audacity!

[Igel]

3. Something's off.

The 2013 # is 64% of the total from 2009-2012.

For every dollar "saved" from 2009 to 2012 I'd save $0.64 in just 2013? Yet the only savings are extensions?

They're making some bad or at least strange assumptions.

[JaneyVee]

4. I think the 2013 # is an estimate to what you would receive under another Obama term over 4yrs

[LooseWilly]

5. This is just funny...

With all the vicissitudes dependent on the details of one's finances, a calculator just based on ball-park gross income, filing status & # of dependents is even more simple than a 1040-EZ...

I suppose no one wants to hear any more of the details... but if anyone does—

Try it with 0 dependents and see what the difference is... and then try to realize that, unless you're wealthy enough to have bought a house so that you have a mortgage to put your itemized deductions up over your standard deduction ... about the only difference in the tax rate for those without custody of children is money that was taken out of Social Security {helping to exacerbate the cries that "Social Security is becoming insolvent"} and a (possible) differential in the tax rate on capital gains and preferred stock dividends. (I doubt the calculator is taking into account any accelerated depreciation rules or increases in §179 ceilings for small business owners or rental property landlords.)

The real killer of the Bush Tax Cuts (as far as I can see) is that preferential tax rate on capital gains and preferred stock dividends when applied to the really really rich, like Warren Buffett, who arrange their torrential income streams to be in the form of capital gains rather than wages (which also allows them to skirt paying FICA taxes: welfare & social security). There are all sorts of rumors about tax breaks for outsourcing jobs, but I haven't been able to deduce exactly where that break is available... though the reduction of the highest bracket marginal tax rate from the Clinton era rate (39% down to 35% I believe) is probably hemorrhaging a fair amount of potential revenue as well.

The killer of repealing them fully is the loss of the $1K/child under 17 deduction that working families can claim. The rest is just nickels and dimes around the margins... for workers.

Is anyone aware of any other Bush Tax Cut deductions/credits that means more than a thimble of warm spit to a worker (and if you are going to include as "workers" those with income enough to invest substantially in 401Ks/IRAs/investment real estate/speculative stock trading/investments in S-corps/TIC real estate ventures... etc., please make that explicit)?