Some of the political issues

As we get closer and closer to the election, I am going to spend every other week posting articles, commentaries and opinions on the candidates and their positions.

The health of Floyd County as well as the nation will be drastically different depending on who gets elected. This site, unlike the mainstream media, will have a conservative slant and will have commentaries that may not be read in other places.

The Following information has been compiled from some of the following sites and links but as with all politicians, their ideas and stances on issues change. For some, they change more frequently depending on the polls:

http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.html
http://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes.html
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

Here are some of the issues:

Favors new drilling offshore US
McCain Yes
Obama No

Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it
McCain Yes
Obama No

Served in the US Armed Forces
McCain Yes
Obama No

Amount of time served in the US Senate
McCain 22 YEARS
Obama 173 DAYS

Will institute a socialized national health care plan
McCain No
Obama Yes

Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy
McCain No
Obama Yes

Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately
McCain No
Obama Yes

Supports gun ownership rights
McCain Yes
Obama No

Supports homosexual marriage
McCain No
Obama Yes

Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase
McCain No
Obama Yes

Voted against making English the official language
McCain No
Obama Yes

Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals
McCain No
Obama Yes

CAPITAL GAINS TAX
McCain 0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
Obama 28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)

DIVIDEND TAX
McCain 15% (no change)
Obama 39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. Some experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would severely affect the stock market in a negative way, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.')

INCOME TAX
McCain (no changes)
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250

Obama (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750
Under Obama, your taxes could almost double!

INHERITANCE TAX
McCain 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
Obama Restore the inheritance tax
Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes.

NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes, new taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity), new taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least....new taxes to pay for socialized medicine.

The bottom line: Both candidates have proposed economic plans that experts don't expect will either raise enough revenue or cut spending sufficiently to pay for them in their entirety. But if you just consider the spending side of the equation, McCain's numbers are likely to be lower than Obama's. By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer

The bottom line: It's not fair to say that McCain's dependent exemption proposal is his "only middle-class tax cut." But Obama's claim that "more than 100 million Americans" will be left out of tax relief under McCain seems to be in the ballpark. So which Americans would see no benefit from McCain's proposal? People without dependents, of course, and those who don't make enough money to file or to owe enough federal income tax to benefit fully from the exemption.

When the Tax Policy Center, which has analyzed both candidates' tax plans, considered McCain's proposals as a whole minus his health care plan, it estimated that 66 million tax "units" - or 78 million people - would still not see tax relief next year. Add their kids and Cousin Itt upstairs, and you get closer to that 100 million number Obama touts.

But one caveat: The numbers are expected to fall once researchers incorporate the effects of McCain's health care credit, which they expect to do in the coming weeks. By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer

As with all of this, there is “spin” on both sides. Congress has got to quit spending more they collect in revenue. Everyone has a part to play.