Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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Comparing the Presidential Candidates’ Tax Positions: Clinton v. Obama & McCain v. Romney
The Tax Foundation has released a new web-based tool for comparing the presidential candidates’ tax positions. Check out these head-to-head tax matchups: Clinton v. Obama McCain v. Romney Other tax sites also compare the presidential candidates’ tax positions: Americans for Tax Reform Citizens for Tax Justice Tax Help Blog Tax Policy Center
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Tax Portions of President Bush’s State of the Union Address Last Night
Tax provisions in last night’s State of the Union Address by President Bush: In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth. But in the short run, we can all see that growth is slowing. So last week, my Administration reached agreement with Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner on a robust…
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Presidential Candidates Release Economic Stimulus Proposals
Hillary Clinton John Edwards Mike Huckabee John McCain Barack Obama Mitt Romney
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Presidential Candidates’ Tax Matrix
Americans for Tax Reform has released a one-page Presidential Candidates’ Tax Matrix. From the press release: The Presidential Tax Matrix tells voters whether the various candidates have indicated in writing that they affirmatively support each pro-growth tax policy. The categories are: Taxpayer Protection Pledge Bush Income and Investment Tax Cuts Permanent Permanent Death Tax Repeal…
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WSJ: Inflation and the Tax Man
Interesting op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal: Inflation and the Tax Man, by Richard W. Rahn (Chair, Institute for Global Economic Growth, and Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute): Rudy Giuliani’s tax-reform proposal includes indexing capital-gains taxes for inflation — that is, putting the original price of the asset in today’s dollars. All of the Republican candidates…
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WSJ: Preparing for the Perfect Tax Storm of 2009-10
Interesting editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal: Republicans and Taxes: Preparing for the Perfect Tax Storm of 2009-10: As the rugby scrum that is the Republican Presidential race heads to South Carolina, the players are wrestling on conservative turf. So it’s a good time to wrestle ourselves with an issue that has become a conservative…
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Kotlikoff Defends the FairTax
Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Boston University, Department of Economics) has published an op-ed, Why the Fair Tax Will Work: Bartlett’s Unfair Attack on the FairTax: In his December 27, 2007 Tax Notes article, Bruce Bartlett purports to critique the FairTax, a proposal to replace almost all federal taxes with a retail sales tax plus a rebate.…
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Group Seeks IRS Investigation Into Whether Nevada Church Impermissibly Endorsed Obama for President
Americans United for Separation of Church and State yesterday sent a letter to the IRS requesting an investigation into whether a Nevada pastor impermissibly endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from the pulpit, in violation of the § 501(c)(3) ban on campaign intervention. From the group’s press release: Americans United for Separation of Church and…
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McCain Would Put Greenspan in Charge of Tax Reform
From the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: [John McCain’s] preferred tax solution is to let former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan figure it out. “We need a fairer, flatter tax,” McCain said. To that end, he would create a tax reform commission headed by Greenspan similar to the commission that oversaw military base decommissioning. McCain…
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Slate: Huckabee’s Tax Plan Is Brilliant
Interesting article on Slate: Huckabee’s Tax Plan Is Brilliant, by Steven E. Landsburg: Mike Huckabee is not my favorite candidate, though I relish the irony of an evolution-denier whose basic appeal is to voters’ most apelike instincts. But I do give him credit for one thing: an innovative tax plan that’s being trashed by journalists…
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My Place on the Electoral Compass: McCain?
At Stephen Bainbridge’s invitation, I located my place on the Electoral Compass, a two-dimensional graph with social issues on the y axis and economic issues on the x axis. To my surprise, after taking the quiz I ended up closest to John McCain: One possible explanation is that the quiz did not ask any questions…
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Rudy Unveils Tax Plan
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani announced a tax reform plan that would: Introduce a simplified Fair and Simple Tax (FAST) form Maintain current major deductions Cut corporate taxes Eliminate the estate tax Index the AMT for inflation Make the Bush tax cuts permanent. See the Giuliani campaign’s press release. The plan has been endorsed by…
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Tax Profs for Obama
At least thirteen Tax Profs are among the self-described law professors or professors who have donated to Presidential candidates. Nine Tax Profs have contributed to Barack Obama’s campaign: Nancy Abramowitz (American): $2,300 Lawrence Brown (Lewis & Clark): $250 Stephen Cohen (Georgetown): $2,300 Barbara Fried (Stanford): $300 Miriam Galston (George Washington): $2,000 Elizabeth Garrett (USC): $750…
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NY Times: Is Huckabee’s FairTax Plan Fair?
Interesting article in the New York Times: Huckabee’s Tax Plan Appeals, But Is It Fair?, by Tom Redburn: Long before Mike Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, began campaigning for president, advocates for replacing the entire federal tax system with a national sales tax were campaigning to convert him to their cause. They succeeded.…
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Bartlett Criticizes Huckabee’s Support for FairTax
In today’s Boston Globe: What’s Foul About the FairTax, by Bruce Bartlett: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s rise to the top tier of Republican presidential candidates is one of the major stories of this election cycle. Although his strong support among evangelical Christians is a factor in his rise, Huckabee has also benefited from the…
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Tax Policy After Iowa
Washington Post: Ron Paul Hits Huckabee on Taxes, by Matthew Mosk: Apparently, there’s only room in the Republican presidential field for one candidate who wants to abolish the IRS. At least that seems to be the message in a new Ron Paul mailing in New Hampshire. The glossy flyer from the Texas congressman and maverick…
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Nonpartisan FactCheck.org Criticizes Huckabee Tax Ad
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org criticizes this recent ad from Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee: From FactCheck.org: The ad shows a graphic asserting that Huckabee "cut taxes over 90 times" as governor. As we’ve noted previously, 90 tax cuts indeed were enacted under Huckabee. However, so were 21 tax increases, and they far outweighed the cuts. ……
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Swift Boat Donor Funds Anti-Huckabee Tax Ads in Iowa
From the Associated Press: Anti-Tax Group Has Help Against Huckabee, by Jim Kuhnhenn: A conservative anti-tax group Wednesday expanded its ad campaign against Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, helped by a major GOP donor who bankrolled ads that questioned Democrat John Kerry’s war record during the 2004 campaign. The Club for Growth is spending $175,000…
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McCain Releases Tax Plan
Republican Presidential candidate John McCain has released his tax plan: Pro-Growth Tax Agenda. John McCain believes taxes should be low, simple, and fair and has a track record of commitment to these principles. Cut Taxes On The Middle Class Cut Taxes For Middle Class Families: Hard-working American families need lower taxes. John McCain will permanently…
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Faculty and Administrators Support Obama Over Clinton, Romney Over Giuliani
This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the donations by the academy to the Presidential candidates: Barack Obama: $2.1 million Hillary Clinton: $1.6 million Mitt Romney: $563,795 Rudy Giuliani: $461,925 John Edwards: $351,261 Here are the colleges whose faculty and administrators have contributed the most to the Presidential candidates: Harvard: $281,050 (81% Democrats, 19%…
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Huckabee’s Tax Plan
Bloomberg: ScareTax, Not FairTax, Is Name for Huckabee Plan, by Amity Shlaes: Every presidential primary has a tax gimmick. In the 1990s, it was the flat tax. This time it’s the so- called FairTax. As far back as last summer, a FairTax Bus was rolling around Iowa. Supporting the FairTax has boosted Mike Huckabee to…
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Group Asks IRS to Investigate Liberty University’s Endorsement of Huckabee
Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to the IRS asking it to investigate whether Liberty University improperly endorsed Mike Huckabee for President: Americans United Press Release Liberty University Press Release Chronicle of Philanthropy CNSNews.com Lynchburg News Advance
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The Presidential Candidates’ Tax Positions
ataxingmatter (Linda Beale): Fred Thompson’s Tax Plan (11/26/07) Citizens for Tax Justice: What the Presidential Candidates Are Saying about Taxes (11/30/07) The Club for Growth: Thompson’s New Tax Plan (11/25/07) Start Making Sense (Dan Shaviro): Fred Thompson’s Bad Idea (11/29/07) Tax Foundation’s Tax Policy Blog: Giuliani Wrong on Mortgage Interest Deduction (12/3/07), by Gerald Prante…
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Democrats Debate Raising Taxes on “The Rich” — $97,000 Per Year?
Interesting article in the Washington Post: That’s Rich — But Maybe Not for Someone Else; Issue of Who’s Really Wealthy Can Also Affect Political Debate, by Joel Achenbach: Who’s rich? Who’s middle class? How can you tell the difference? … The two front-running Democratic presidential contenders, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton…