Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today released his tax plan (Form 1), which will:
- Create three new tax breaks to honor and strengthen three pillars of America’s middle class: savings, work, and families
- Require a fair contribution from the wealth of high-income Americans, reversing the shift of the tax code onto middle class wages
- End special tax breaks for insiders
From the press release:
Edwards will help regular families save and get ahead by:
- Creating a Get Ahead Credit, which will expand the Savers Credit to match savings up to $500 a year, providing as much as an additional dollar for every dollar of savings.
- Boosting low-income families’ savings with work bonds, which will supplement the Earned Income Tax Credit to match the savings of low-income workers up to $500 per year.
- Exempting from taxes each family’s first $250 in interest, capital gains, and dividends.
- Allowing families to deposit part or all of their child tax credit into a tax-free savings account.
- Expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to pay up to 50 percent of child care expenses up to $5,000 and make it partially refundable to benefit low-income working families.
- Tripling the EITC for 4 million adults without children and cutting the marriage penalty for 3 million families.
In the past six years, President Bush has cut taxes on capital gains and dividends and started to eliminate taxes on inheritances completely. As a result of his regressive tax policies, the federal tax burden has been pushed onto the backs of working Americans. As president, Edwards will reverse President Bush’s "War on Work" by:
- Raising the top tax rate on long-term capital gains to 28%, the same rate signed into law by President Reagan. The 28% rate will ensure that high-income investors will pay taxes on their investment income at a similar rate to what regular families pay on their earned income.
- Repealing the Bush tax cuts for the most fortunate families, who make more than $200,000 a year.
- Ending the abuse of foreign tax havens.
- Closing the hedge fund and private equity loopholes.
- Capping executive pensions.
For more details, see the fact sheet. Press coverage:
