Obama proposes U.S. middle-class tax relief plan...

[Crystalline]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama proposed up to $85 billion in tax cuts for about 150 million Americans on Tuesday, paid for by raising capital gains and dividend taxes on wealthy investors.

Obama's tax plan, set to be announced in a speech in Washington, includes a cut of up to $1,000 for working families, a mortgage interest credit for low- and middle-income homeowners and the elimination of income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 per year.

"To get through these uncertain times, we have to recognize that we all have a stake in one another's success," the Illinois senator said in excerpts of the speech provided by his campaign. "When folks are hurting out there on Main Street, that's not good for Wall Street."

Obama is playing catch-up in the 2008 presidential race behind Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who leads national polls less than four months before the first nominating contest in Iowa.

His focus on taxes comes the day after Clinton unveiled her plan for universal health care as the contenders in the November 2008 presidential election stake out their policy positions.

Obama said he would pay for the middle-class tax relief with a crackdown on corporate loopholes and offshore tax havens and an increase in the highest bracket for capital gains and dividend taxes. He did not specify the size of the increase.

His proposal also would simplify the process of filing taxes so Americans could do their taxes in less than five minutes, he said.

Obama said he would give an income tax cut of $500 per person -- or $1,000 per working family -- to 150 million Americans. Because the cut would be greater than the income tax bill for some, he said, it would eliminate taxes for 10 million working Americans.

The homeowners' tax credit would benefit about 10 million home owners, he said, and the tax breaks for seniors would eliminate income taxes for about 7 million Americans.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1841196820070918?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

[lilmckee]

:gesture:

[wever411]

it all sounds great but will it actually happen :dontknow:

[MadseasoN]

Bush promised the same thing. I got a $600 tax credit too, but what did it cost me in the long run??? Probably 10 times that much.

[Gigolo Jason]

Who cares.

Give it a few months and he will be Hilary's lap dog.

[cogs69]

I remember in school, the president can only propose these plans. It all has to be voted into effect, and his plan proposes to tax the high class business owners, and who holds the voting seats to pass or decline such a plan? The high class business owners, so that is why the whole tax issue has been messed up all along. I saw numbers that if they just did a flat tax rate, the taxes the middle and low class would go down each year, and the government would GAIN billions of dollars in spending money. Sounds like a perfect win win situation, except for the high class. That would cut out their loopholes. Pretty much, the middle class is just going to take it without lube for a long time. Is it just me, or does everyone get tired of every single election dealing with taxes, or healthcare? Reminds me of beauty pagents where every girl answers "world peace".

[wever411]

I remember in school, the president can only propose these plans. It all has to be voted into effect, and his plan proposes to tax the high class business owners, and who holds the voting seats to pass or decline such a plan? The high class business owners, so that is why the whole tax issue has been messed up all along. I saw numbers that if they just did a flat tax rate, the taxes the middle and low class would go down each year, and the government would GAIN billions of dollars in spending money. Sounds like a perfect win win situation, except for the high class. That would cut out their loopholes. Pretty much, the middle class is just going to take it without lube for a long time. Is it just me, or does everyone get tired of every single election dealing with taxes, or healthcare? Reminds me of beauty pagents where every girl answers "world peace".

flat tax FTW

[cogs69]

:werd:

[Moody]

How about just pointing out that the IRS is illegally taxing citizens. :thumb:

[CarbonJames]

TRASH!!!!

[ArturoC]

How 'bout cutting taxes for single people with no kids!?!!?!!? :banghead:

[Rick H.I.C.]

Typical Pethetican (politician). You get a tax break after we raise all your other property taxes, business taxes, fees, dues, or whatever else we the petheticans can come up with to misappropiate your money.

[Rick H.I.C.]

How 'bout cutting taxes for single people with no kids!?!!?!!? :banghead:

Naww that just wouldn't be right, just cause we know to pull it out, the breeders should have the benefits. After all that hard work of leaving it in too long.:rofl:
Disclaimers: I thought it was funny, I have no problem with GOOD kids. :D

[ArturoC]

Naww that just wouldn't be right, just cause we know to pull it out, the breeders should have the benefits. After all that hard work of leaving it in too long.:rofl:
Disclaimers: I thought it was funny, I have no problem with GOOD kids. :D



:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[paniro187]

Who cares.

Give it a few months and he will be Hilary's lap dog.+1

[Angamico]

Because the cut would be greater than the income tax bill for some, he said, it would eliminate taxes for 10 million working Americans.



More money for Newports and lottery tickets.:happy5:

[paniro187]

More money for Newports and lottery tickets.:happy5:

sounds like that's directed at a certain group of people..........

[Mala Lingua]

TRASH!!!!

:rofl: I'm detecting a pattern.

[Mala Lingua]

How 'bout cutting taxes for single people with no kids!?!!?!!? :banghead:

And married folks with no kids! Why do I have to pay for their spawn to be educated? So much money spent to so little effect. :angry7: Functionally illiterate little. . .

[Gigolo Jason]

+1

WOW,

We agree for the second time in one day.

What is happening here?

Is the second coming of Christ finally upon us?

[paniro187]

WOW,

We agree for the second time in one day.

What is happening here?

Is the second coming of Christ finally upon us?you just want to think i'm far on the left but more middle of the road and to the right than you might think

[Moody]

And married folks with no kids! Why do I have to pay for their spawn to be educated? So much money spent to so little effect. :angry7: Functionally illiterate little. . .

Unless you own a home you are probably not educating to many kids.

[MadseasoN]

And married folks with no kids! Why do I have to pay for their spawn to be educated? So much money spent to so little effect. :angry7: Functionally illiterate little. . .

You indirectly benefit by living in a society where people are provided an education. Without public education we'd be a third world country in about 20 years.

Not only that, I'm betting that most of us went to public school. At a cost of $4-$7K/year to educate each kid I serously doubt that our parents' paid in over $100K in property taxes for an 18 year period for each child that they have. You could consider it 'repayment' for your primary education.

[cashtown]

How 'bout cutting taxes for single people with no kids!?!!?!!? :banghead:

+1

[Mala Lingua]

Unless you own a home you are probably not educating to many kids.

I own a home; tis why I howl about it. Clear Lake is insanely proud of their schools. I wanna go back to the good ol' days of educated instructors, Big Chief tablets and a sprinkling of Thoreau-esque teaching sense. All that money and look at the general outcome. . .:sad7:

[Mala Lingua]

You indirectly benefit by living in a society where people are provided an education. Without public education we'd be a third world country in about 20 years.

Not only that, I'm betting that most of us went to public school. At a cost of $4-$7K/year to educate each kid I serously doubt that our parents' paid in over $100K in property taxes for an 18 year period for each child that they have. You could consider it 'repayment' for your primary education.

Oh no, I directly benefit from living in a county that offers public schooling. I'm just horrified by the appropriation choices. I've seen the product, and it isn't impressive. Granted, it's a societal issue that extends beyond the schools, but too much is wasted to enact initiatives that are pointless in classrooms lacking a qualified instructor. Tis too much of not enough. :er:

[MadseasoN]

Oh no, I directly benefit from living in a county that offers public schooling. I'm just horrified by the appropriation choices. I've seen the product, and it isn't impressive. Granted, it's a societal issue that extends beyond the schools, but too much is wasted to enact initiatives that are pointless in classrooms lacking a qualified instructor. Tis too much of not enough. :er:

I think districts like HISD have the most problems. They run that district like a business and have a huge admin payroll. Fortunantly my kids go to school in a small district with a sizeable budget. The teachers are excellent but the curriculum is what needs work. This TAKS BS is what I can't stand. The teachers are forced to spend their time teaching kids how to take a test rather than educating them.

[Mala Lingua]

I think districts like HISD have the most problems. They run that district like a business and have a huge admin payroll. Fortunantly my kids go to school in a small district with a sizeable budget. The teachers are excellent but the curriculum is what needs work. This TAKS BS is what I can't stand. The teachers are forced to spend their time teaching kids how to take a test rather than educating them.

:nod: We have some wonderful teachers out there, but they're high-centered on the impossible:standardized tests. :angry7:

[Moody]

I own a home; tis why I howl about it. Clear Lake is insanely proud of their schools. I wanna go back to the good ol' days of educated instructors, Big Chief tablets and a sprinkling of Thoreau-esque teaching sense. All that money and look at the general outcome. . .:sad7:

The public education system is a joke. Maybe a nescessary evil but, a joke none the less.

[Moody]

:nod: We have some wonderful teachers out there, but they're high-centered on the impossible:standardized tests. :angry7:

You my friend are brilliant!

[SPHINX]

some one should completely abolish taxes, it's just a form of legalized theft. why should i have to pay to be allowed to own a house or a vahicle, or give them my money to support the elderly and those living in well-fare. I'm so fed up of the american government.

[Moody]

some one should completely abolish taxes, it's just a form of legalized theft. why should i have to pay to be allowed to own a house or a vahicle, or give them my money to support the elderly and those living in well-fare. I'm so fed up of the american government.

Some taxes are illegal and you should look into which ones you are simply agreeing to pay.

[Mala Lingua]

The public education system is a joke. Maybe a nescessary evil but, a joke none the less.

I have to remain fairly upbeat because of my job. If I wallow in the horror for too long it affects me for a long time, but yeah, it's a joke. The backlash is coming; I think the magnitude of "the joke" will be grossly apparent--even to those who don't acknowledge or understand the problem--in another 15-20 years. The millenial students are filtering into colleges; they'll go thru and then there'll be whatever :er: comes after piling on thru as well. And hey, lookout. Vaudeville redefined. :sad7: As the thing becomes more diluted it gains a terrible kind of strength. . .if that makes sense. Sorry, I'm making huge leaps here b/c I gotta go teach a class, but I want to finish this post. :D

[dirtyrice411]

our education system is a joke gone bad, but until we take the power away from the rich and give it back to the lower/middle class. nothing will ever change. (money=power) Shit rolls down hill and if we want something done with our education system we have to go to the top. If we make it so were the rich has to pay for the education system, then they will care about it. and something will get done. A good tax reform could make things all across the board change. some for better some for worst. but either way we would still have to pass it in the house and senate, and what we need will never happen because there are those loop holes, and all the dirty politicians that like their money more than their resonsabliltys to the people they work for, us the citizens.

You pay your taxs on your house so you can have an education, roads to drive on, disaster relief when a hurricane/tornado blows down you house, and the military to protect yo ass from bin laden.

Im not for the gov. by all means. personally I want to move to europe. but until that happens im here and Im going to make the best of it.

[Crystalline]

our education system is a joke gone bad, but until we take the power away from the rich and give it back to the lower/middle class. nothing will ever change. (money=power) Shit rolls down hill and if we want something done with our education system we have to go to the top. If we make it so were the rich has to pay for the education system, then they will care about it. and something will get done. A good tax reform could make things all across the board change. some for better some for worst. but either way we would still have to pass it in the house and senate, and what we need will never happen because there are those loop holes, and all the dirty politicians that like their money more than their resonsabliltys to the people they work for, us the citizens.

You pay your taxs on your house so you can have an education, roads to drive on, disaster relief when a hurricane/tornado blows down you house, and the military to protect yo ass from bin laden.

Im not for the gov. by all means. personally I want to move to europe. but until that happens im here and Im going to make the best of it.

And don't forget we pay the governemt to allow us to go to school, drive on the road, traffic for the traffic routes, and for them to start shit...
I am starting to hate our government more and more by the day.:/:

[Crystalline]

I remember in school, the president can only propose these plans. It all has to be voted into effect, and his plan proposes to tax the high class business owners, and who holds the voting seats to pass or decline such a plan? The high class business owners, so that is why the whole tax issue has been messed up all along. I saw numbers that if they just did a flat tax rate, the taxes the middle and low class would go down each year, and the government would GAIN billions of dollars in spending money. Sounds like a perfect win win situation, except for the high class. That would cut out their loopholes. Pretty much, the middle class is just going to take it without lube for a long time. Is it just me, or does everyone get tired of every single election dealing with taxes, or healthcare? Reminds me of beauty pagents where every girl answers "world peace".

Yet we still learn nothing...

[Mala Lingua]

Yet we still learn nothing...

Not nothing, just not quite enough. :/: Facts and figures, random minutiae sticks, but I'm concerned by the general lack of analytical and critical thinking skills found in a large percentage of our public ed. students. As a rule, American instructors are too impatient (well, look at the curriculum they're given and the time they have to prep students for standardized tests) to allow students to really flounder around with problems until they arrive at a solution. Teachers are forced to present an array of info for students take it in, but there's little how and why. . .just a lot of here it is, memorize it. Even the facts and figures are sketchy most. It's frightening how ignorant many community college freshmen are regarding the genealogy of man and thought. They no more understand how the Greeks shaped their attitudes about the world than they understand astrophysics. It's bizarre how they think ancient history--literally--has no impact on their lives. :er: Twenty-first century life is frenetic and that has bled into our schools. They aren't taught to think about what they think about. . . .much less how to evaluate what it means or where the ideas come from. It's just. . .AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH phuck this. I'm a teacher. The sun is down. I need alcohol. Time to go listen to the wind brushing thru the leaves, have a couple of smokes, a glass of wine and contemplate whether what I do has any meaning at all. :crying:

[pester]

Who cares.

Give it a few months and he will be Hilary's lap dog.


yup politics is a shamefull job

[pester]

WOW,

We agree for the second time in one day.

What is happening here?

Is the second coming of Christ finally upon us?


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: +1000,000

[pester]

Yet we still learn nothing...


well if bush didnt learn nothing what can u expect from him?

[pester]

And don't forget we pay the governemt to allow us to go to school, drive on the road, traffic for the traffic routes, and for them to start shit...
I am starting to hate our government more and more by the day.:/:


im with u on this one. lately is nothing but non sense, after 9/11 thi dumb govmnt isnt doing anything else for this country that focussing in a war we havent win

the rest of this country's issues have been forgotten, i havent seen anything new on the goverment agenda but frigging iraq

no wonder we are getting worse

[abelrob]

Anyone get a chance to see Cy-Fairs 19 million dollar stadium? :banghead: Im suprised the Aggies dont play there. :keke::rofl: Cy-fair taxes :crying:

[Moody]

Anyone get a chance to see Cy-Fairs 19 million dollar stadium? :banghead: Im suprised the Aggies dont play there. :keke::rofl: Cy-fair taxes :crying:

Yep, I can hear it all weekend.

[ArturoC]

Anyone get a chance to see Cy-Fairs 19 million dollar stadium? :banghead: Im suprised the Aggies dont play there. :keke::rofl: Cy-fair taxes :crying:


That's just effing stupid for highschool sports! :banghead:

[abelrob]

Yep, I can hear it all weekend.

That sucks! I never thought about that :angry7: Im far enough away that I dont have to hear it.

[Moody]

That sucks! I never thought about that :angry7: Im far enough away that I dont have to hear it.

Explain this one.... I can hear football being played clear as day in my back yard at night but, the HOA thinks my ramp is a disturbance to the neighborhood.

Anyways I am over it... I am selling out and moving to the hill country. :thumb:

[ArturoC]

Explain this one.... I can hear football being played clear as day in my back yard at night but, the HOA thinks my ramp is a disturbance to the neighborhood.

Anyways I am over it... I am selling out and moving to the hill country. :thumb:


That's messed up. They just built the new Atascocita HS, near me. I don't know if there is a stadium there or not, I assume so. The place lights up the whole sky! :banghead:

I hate light pollution, I want dark skies!

The school just opened and they are having to use portable buildings already because of over crowding. My friend told me it's because the kids from Fall Creek are going there, even though there are not even close to the school. Guess if you live in a 1million+ subdivision you get to decide which public school your kids go to. :banghead:

[paniro187]

Explain this one.... I can hear football being played clear as day in my back yard at night but, the HOA thinks my ramp is a disturbance to the neighborhood.

Anyways I am over it... I am selling out and moving to the hill country. :thumb:I'm trying my hardest to get the other half to see it that way i want to move ther so bad.

[Moody]

I'm trying my hardest to get the other half to see it that way i want to move ther so bad.

I have started packing... you need help? :D

[Crystalline]

Explain this one.... I can hear football being played clear as day in my back yard at night but, the HOA thinks my ramp is a disturbance to the neighborhood.

Anyways I am over it... I am selling out and moving to the hill country. :thumb:

Because thats just how they role!!!

[ArturoC]

Because thats just how they role!!!


That's nothing compared to the rollin' all gansta w/ peanut brittles! :rofl: