Edwards would double capital gains tax

This just shows how little John Edwards learned about poverty when he was pulling down half-a-mil-a-year at a hedge fund. He claims that by raising the capital gains tax from 15% to 28%, he’ll be able to afford to give tax breaks to middle and lower-class taxpayers. From the Wall Street Journal;

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said he would raise the capital gains tax rate to 28% from 15% and boost income taxes on those making more than $200,000 a year in order to finance tax cuts and other benefits for middle- and lower-income families.

The tax proposal lays down a big marker in the 2008 campaign tax debate and is likely to spur Mr. Edwards’s main rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, to detail their tax prescriptions in the coming months.

So far, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama have said only that they favor rolling back at least a portion of the Bush tax cuts that favor upper-income families, though Mr. Obama’s aides have said he’s considering raising the capital gains rate to 20%.

Has Edwards been awake the last few years? Corporations have injected billions of dollars back into the economy by paying investors with the cash they had in reserve (Investors – that means you and me cuz we all have 401ks and IRAs in the stock market). Microsoft alone had $33 million just sitting around until President Bush made it cheaper for investors to take dividends on their stock holdings.

To illustrate how out of touch Edwards is with reality, he continued;

In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Edwards said Bush administration’s tax policies rewarded wealth over work, and he pledged to rewrite the tax code to benefit Main Street over Wall Street. “The great engine of growth in America isn’t the special interests or the money managers; it is the teachers and factory workers and engineers who quietly contribute every day,” he said.

Um, dumbass, it’s the teachers, factory workers and engineers who are all invested in 401ks and 403bs and get capital gains in their investments - tax deferred distributions. All you’re doing is making companies not want to pay investors dividends to avoid the double taxation. It’s all feel good catch phrases to placate the ignorant.

Raising capital gains tax would also impact retirees who plan on selling their houses when they retire, or anyone else selling their house. It punishes people who invest any money in any investment vehicle – you know the folks whose money drives our economy and people who plan rather than blindly spend. 

Tax revenues are are at an all time high – even adjusted for inflation – so why would anyone want to raise taxes on anyone? There are indeed two Americas – one that wants this country to grow and get stronger, and one that wants a hand out. Edwards belongs in the latter having never had a real job in his life, having lived off the sweat of the productive. And he wants the rest of America to follow his example.

Oh, and by the way, Edwards, making one group of people anticipate a windfall of tax deductions based on the increase of taxes on another group of people is called class warfare – it’s dividing America.

How about, for a change, you advocate spending cuts instead tax increases – but “I’m going to take your six children off of SSI payments because their poor performance in school is their own fault not the American taxpayers’ fault” won’t fit on a bumpersticker.

Category: Economy, Politics, Society