I decided to post each candidate’s full economic plan as opposed to just providing links. Why? Because most folks are lazy. Plus, most folks have already made up their minds without having looked at each candidate and where they stand on the issues. Hopefully this would force at least some of you not to follow that worn path.
There is no particular order on which candidate is highlighted. I will cover all of them. The next part in this series will appear hear on Monday.
Lastly, I thought about highlighting what I liked/disliked about each candidate but I have since decided against it. If you are a regular reader of this site, you pretty much know at least some of the issues that are important to me so there is no real need for me to repeat it in the actual post. This will not be the case for comments I feel that are worth challenging.
Sorry! One more thing—Comments that are completely unrelated to the economic plan of each candidate will be deleted. The goal here is to get reader to do a fair comparison of each candidate as it relates to their plan for the economy. Depending how this goes, we may broaden the scope to other issues.
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The following was taken from www.joinrudy2008.com
CUT TAXES TO KEEP AMERICA’S ECONOMY STRONG & CREATE JOBS
Lower Marginal Tax Rates: Rudy will permanently lower marginal rates to the current level and possibly further.
Give The Death Tax The Death Penalty: Rudy will commit to ending the Death Tax so wealth passed on to future generations is not subject to this punitive tax while preventing double taxation. The current Death Tax sets the tax rate at 45% through 2009, drops to 0% in 2010, and reinstates the pre-tax cut rate of 55% in 2011.
Prevent An Unprecedented Tax Increase: Rudy will commit to preventing the American public from facing a $3 trillion or more tax increase over the next 10 years by making the current tax provisions – like the marriage penalty relief and child tax credit – permanent and reining in the growth of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Tie Alternative Minimum Tax To Inflation: Under Rudy’s plan, the Alternative Minimum Tax will be indexed for inflation to prevent it from unintentionally raising taxes on 30 million Americans – nearly one-fifth of all taxpayers.
Ensure Lower, More Competitive Corporate Tax Rates: Rudy believes that ensuring lower, more competitive corporate tax rates will solidify a strong and growing economy that creates jobs for Americans. America’s effective corporate tax rates are among the highest in the world and should be lowered from 35% to 25%.
ENCOURAGE SAVINGS & CREATE NEW SAVINGS INCENTIVES
Expand Tax-Free Savings Accounts: The expansion of tax-free savings accounts will encourage Americans to save and eliminate the double taxation of individuals’ current savings.
REFORM THE TAX TREATMENT OF HEALTH CARE
Expand Health Care Choice Through Tax Code Reform: Rudy proposes an income exclusion of up to $15,000 for families without employer-based health coverage to make insurance more affordable.
Assist Low-Income Americans To Secure Health Insurance: Rudy will commit to a Health Insurance Credit for low-income Americans that can be coupled with other revenue sources such as Medicaid and employer contributions to make coverage more affordable to millions who are uninsured.
THE F.A.S.T. FORM – MAKING YOUR TAXES FLATTER, FAIRER AND SIMPLER
When the federal income tax was first introduced in 1913, you could file on one page. The federal tax code is now over 9 million words (the Constitution is roughly 5000 words by comparison[1]), and Americans spend nearly 6.5 billion hours each year filling out tax forms, keeping records and learning tax rules, according to the OMB. The costs of complying with federal income taxes is $200 billion each year.[2]
Mayor Giuliani’s plan: the Fair and Simple Tax (FAST) form – will give all American taxpayers the option of filling out their taxes on a single page again. It has three rates – 10-15-30 – cutting the current 6 tax brackets in half. It will offer all Americans the opportunity for a tax cut while preserving the major deductions that people have come to depend upon: mortgage interest, charity, state & local taxes, the child tax credit, the personal exemption and the new Healthcare exclusion. The FAST form would allow people to opt between it and the regular federal tax code every year, depending on which made the most economic sense for them.
To view a draft form please click here: http://www.joinrudy2008.com/pages/taxform
CUT THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX TO REWARD SUCCESS
Some Democrats seem to want to penalize success. Rudy Giuliani wants America to be a country that rewards success. That’s why we should cut the Capital Gains Tax from 15% to 10% and index capital gains for inflation – spurring private sector investment in a growth economy.
REINSTATE THE R&D TAX CREDIT
One of the secrets to America’s historic success is that we’re an engine of innovation – we pioneer new technologies and create new industries. But this Democratic Congress recently allowed the research and development tax credit to expire, choosing higher taxes over a commitment to America’s innovation edge in the global economy. We need to reinstate the Research & Development Tax Credit to help American companies find solutions to the great challenges we face – like achieving energy independence.
Fiscal Discipline
RUDY’S PLAN TO RESTORE FISCAL DISCIPLINE AND CUT WASTEFUL SPENDING
Anonymous earmarks, concealed budgeting, and special interests waste taxpayer dollars within the Federal budget. Over the last decade, non-defense spending increased 72%, while the number of earmarks increased from 1,000 to nearly 10,000. Rudy Giuliani will impose fiscal discipline and accountability through a combination of executive action and legislative reform. (The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2008, Historical Tables; Citizens Against Government Waste, http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_porkbarrelreport)
End Earmarking & Start Budgeting Like a Business: Rudy’s plan will make government more honest, accountable, and transparent by making Congress budget more responsibly, like American businesses and taxpayers.
* Stop irresponsible and anonymous earmarks.
* Require mandatory sunset clauses for all Federal programs.
* Require Congressional Budget Office cost estimates for all legislation before it is voted upon.
* Create separate capital and operating budgets.
* Bring generally accepted accounting principles to the Federal government.
Reduce the Federal Civilian Workforce by 20% through Attrition and Retirement: Within the next decade, 42% of the Federal Civilian Workforce – some 300,000 bureaucrats – will retire. (Congressional Budget Office, “Characteristics and Pay of Federal Civilian Employees”, 3/07)
* Replace only half, making the Federal government smaller and smarter through increased use of technology and privatization.
* Eventually saving the taxpayers $21 billion each year, while ensuring that the Federal government is focused on performing its essential responsibilities (Congressional Budget Office, “Characteristics and Pay of Federal Civilian Employees”, 3/07).
Require Agencies to Identify at Least 5% to 20% in Spending Reductions: Requiring agency heads to identify savings and increased efficiencies in each annual budget – as Rudy Giuliani did as Mayor – is a management tool that will lead to constant streamlining and more cost-effective government spending without compromising national security in the search for savings.
Propose a Constitutional Amendment Establishing a Presidential Line-Item Veto: A constitutional line-item veto would allow the President to fight for the national interest by cutting wasteful special interest programs without contributing to gridlock by vetoing an otherwise sound bill.
Use GAPStat to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Federal Agencies & Eliminate Wasteful Spending: Rudy’s plan establishes a Government-wide Accountability Program [”GAPStat”] based on New York’s successful CompStat program to better evaluate each agency, analyze the effectiveness of Federal programs, and identify those that are wasteful, failing or duplicative.
* Allows the Office of Management and Budget to evaluate effectiveness in a new way, hold Congress accountable for the wasteful programs it funds, and offer specific solutions to save taxpayer dollars.
Economic Competitiveness
EXPANDING OUR INVOLVEMENT IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Strengthen America’s 21st Century Workforce: Education is power in an information economy. American workers must be the best trained and prepared workforce in the world in order to successfully compete in the global economy.
* Promote science and mathematics through technical certification or an associate degree.
* Advance successful training programs leading to competitive skills the market demands.
* Allow early withdrawal from retirement accounts for qualified retraining programs.
* Expand the number of H1B Visas for skilled foreign workers to meet market demand.
Create “Global Prosperity Initiative”: Bringing more countries and people into the global marketplace will make America safer and create new markets for our products worldwide. America must promote higher living standards around the world, help reform the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to encourage pro-growth policies, and distribute foreign aid in ways that reinforce good governance and economic freedom, similar to the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Aggressively Advance Free Trade: Rudy will tear down the walls to free trade and create new markets for American-made products. He will protect America’s innovations and intellectual property by enforcing our trade agreements aggressively.
* Reduce corporate tax rates and regulatory burden so that Americans can better compete in the global economy.
* Reform the excesses of Sarbanes-Oxley that are driving our corporations overseas to list on foreign exchanges.
* Reenact the Presidential Fast-Track Trade Promotion Authority and complete the Doha Development Round.
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