4.8
August 2, 2012

Obama v. Romney Tax Calculator!

Calculator: compare your tax burden under the Romney & Obama plans.

< Click Calculator at left to begin.

< Obama has a Romney vs Obama Tax Calculator on their site. There’s links here to source their info and assumptions. Let’s play!

The American Dream is not merely about getting rich. It’s about meritocracy—social mobility—making it—the four freedoms—the middle class, opportunity.

A non-partisan crunch of Romney’s numbers.

Top Reddit comment:

“Sure. I could save some money now with Obama, but what about the job creators? If the rich get richer, I could finally find the second and third full time jobs I’ve been unable to get because of the job creators’ oppressive tax burden. I mean with 168 hours in a week, why should I be able to work 40-60? Once I get up to 90-120 hours a week I’m sure to qualify for the tax cuts Romney is proposing. Just look at all the private sector jobs created by the Bush tax cuts. A few more cuts and we’ll have more jobs than people and everyone will be rich. With everyone rich, no one will have to pay taxes! Note: extreme sarcasm has been used in this reply.”

On the accuracy of the Calculator: “It is based on a STUDY that had to make ASSUMPTIONS on STATEMENTS Romney has made BECAUSE he won’t release his full tax plan.

Just release the tax plan Romney and we’ll get the calculator corrected.”

For more of a discussion on whether the numbers in the calculator are accurate (given that they are based on Romney’s general plan, and Obama has released specifics), click here, read down.

Relephant:

How the Calculator works:

“Because the tax code is complex, the calculator makes a number of simplifying assumptions that may differ from the circumstances of any particular user. It assumes all income is from wages. For married filers, it assumes that income is split evenly between two earners. It assumes that income does not vary over the years analyzed. It assumes that taxpayers claim the standard deduction for the purpose of analyzing the impact of the expiration of the middle class tax cuts. The impact of Mitt Romney’s tax plan is based on an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which determines the tax increase or tax cut the average family in each income group would face if Romney paid for his $5 trillion tax plan by cutting tax benefits. The analysis assumes that Romney eliminates all tax benefits, except those for savings and investment, for households earning over $200,000, and reduces those benefits for households earning under $200,000 to cover the rest of the cost – resulting in a reduction by more than half. The Tax Policy Center uses income thresholds based on “cash income”, a measure broader than AGI commonly used by TPC. The calculator is intended for information purposes only.

See the full report at the TaxPolicyCenter.org

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