Tax Views Down & Dirty: McCain vs. Obama

Tax Girl has some awesome content. Recently she had a post with a nice graphic depicting the differing tax vies of our two presidential candidates.

Check the post out here.

Thanks Kelly!

Further Reading:

McCain & Obama Both Play Loose with Facts on Tax Issues in First Debate

Obama Taking Illegal Campaign Contributions Too?

Two weeks ago I wrote about Wiley S. Drake, a California church minister who is urging his congregation to pray for the condemnation of a group who reported Drake to the IRS for openly supporting Mike Huckabee for President. Drake's open support of a Presidential candidate is Constitutionally wrong since it egregiously crosses the line between church and state, so of course it ruffled a few feathers.

However, surprisingly, it seems that Barack Obama wants to get in on some ruffling as well. In 2007 he gave a speech to to the United Church of Christ. Although the speech was not campaign-based, there was of course some political content and this is what the IRS has an issue with.

(TaxProf and TaxGirl have had some pretty good coverage--posting links to audio, video, and direct correspondence.)

Whether or not the IRS is correct, I really don't know. I'm glad to see some concern for the First Amendement though, because it seems these days as if no one in Washington remembers it exists.

Who To Vote For? Just Press Enter

The TaxProf has some pretty cool things on his blog sometimes. This time he's found a tool created by Ted Frank of American Enterprise Institute. Being a tool-lover (no snickers please), I immediately latched on to this.

Basically what it does is calculate the taxes you can expect to pay based on McCain or Obama's tax policy. You can download the tool here.

Nothing speaks to people more than dollars and cents, which is why this spreadsheet should have such wide appeal. However, I wish he had added Hillary in there. I'm guessing that Mr. Frank chose McCain and Obama since they seem to have the best chance of winning the nomination, but Hillary and Obama are still duking it out. It would've been nice to compare the Democrats against each other. But oh well...

Keep up the good work!
~The Good Tax Helper