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John Edwards on Tax ReformDemocratic Nominee for Vice President; NC Jr Senator |
EDWARDS: Kerry has voted or co-sponsored over 600 times tax cuts for the American people. We are for more tax cuts for the middle class than they're for, have been for the last four years. But we are not for more tax cuts for multimillionaires. They are. And it is a fundamental difference in what we think needs to be done in this country.
CHENEY: Yesterday, Bush signed an extension of middle-class tax cuts, the 10 percent bracket, the marriage penalty relief and the increase in the child tax credit.
A: I will repeal the Bush tax cuts that benefit only the top 2 percent of Americans. I will also impose a new tax on unearned income for the top 1 percent. At the same time, I will offer new tax cuts to 95 percent of Americans.
ANNOUNCER : John Edwards' plan has been called the
best platform of all the candidates. Repeal tax breaks George Bush created for wealthy investors, and target tax cuts to the middle class. I voted against the Bush tax cuts. I believe we should repeal the tax cuts for those that earn over $200,000 a year, and close a group of corporate tax loop holes.
I would not raise taxes on middle class working families because I believe they are the engine of our economy and it would be a mistake and would inhibit long-term economic growth.
Every year National Taxpayers Union (NTU) rates U.S. Representatives and Senators on their actual votes—every vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers. NTU assigned weights to the votes, reflecting the importance of each vote’s effect. NTU has no partisan axe to grind. All Members of Congress are treated the same regardless of political affiliation. Our only constituency is the overburdened American taxpayer. Grades are given impartially, based on the Taxpayer Score. The Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and regulation and opposing higher taxes. In general, a higher score is better because it means a Member of Congress voted to lessen or limit the burden on taxpayers.
The Taxpayer Score can range between zero and 100. We do not expect anyone to score a 100, nor has any legislator ever scored a perfect 100 in the multi-year history of the comprehensive NTU scoring system. A high score does not mean that the Member of Congress was opposed to all spending or all programs. High-scoring Members have indicated that they would vote for many programs if the amount of spending were lower. A Member who wants to increase spending on some programs can achieve a high score if he or she votes for offsetting cuts in other programs. A zero score would indicate that the Member of Congress approved every spending proposal and opposed every pro-taxpayer reform.
Q: Will you work to repeal the Bush tax cuts?
I would reduce further [than the Bush tax cuts] the taxes on middle class working families by helping them make a down payment on their first home, creating incentives for them to invest and become part of the investor class
and helping them save by matching savings up to dollar for dollar up to $1000 per family per year.
What Bush is doing is trying to shift the tax burden in America from wealth to work. He wants to eliminate the capital gains tax, the dividends tax, the estate tax, all the taxation of wealth or passive income on wealth, and shift that tax burden to
people who work for a living. It's an enormous mistake. What we ought to be doing instead is empowering [middle-class] families, helping them buy a house, helping them invest, lowering their capital gains rate. So we expand the investor class in America.
What I would do as president is stop President Bush's tax cuts for the top two income tax brackets--people who make over $200,000 a year--close a whole group of corporate tax loopholes to generate revenue that will get us back
on the path to fiscal responsibility. We also ought to actually raise the capital gains rate for those who earn over $300,000 a year, so that the rate is more in line with the income tax rate paid by people who work for a living.
To get this economy going again [we need to] crack down on corporate cheating so that business actually works for employees. And we need to stop President Bush's war on work. We need to stop these tax cuts for multi-millionaires who invest,
and instead give tax cuts to working people to help them buy a house, to help them educate their kids, to help them get health care, to help them save. That's the kind of tax cut that's going to actually help middle class working families.
Tax Reform to Reward Work. Edwards believes a millionaire should not pay lower taxes on his unearned income than a nurse pays for working overtime.
While restoring fiscal discipline, Edwards will offer tax breaks to help working families own a piece of the rock-buy a home, save for retirement, or invest in stocks.
H.R. 2 Conference Report; Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. Vote to adopt the conference report on the bill that would make available $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years. It would provide $20 billion in state aid that consists of $10 billion for Medicaid and $10 billion to be used at states' judgment. The agreement contains a new top tax rate of 15 percent on capital gains and dividends through 2007 (5 percent for lower-income taxpayers in 2007 and no tax in 2008). Income tax cuts enacted in 2001 and planned to take effect in 2006 would be accelerated. The child tax credit would be raised to $1,000 through 2004. The standard deduction for married couples would be double that for a single filer through 2004. Tax breaks for businesses would include expanding the deduction that small businesses could take on investments to $100,000 through 2005.
Vote to pass a bill that would reduce all income tax rates and make other tax cuts totaling $1.35 trillion over 11 years. The bill would increase the standard deduction for married couples subject to the 15% bracket to double that of singles by 2005
Vote to expand the standard deduction and 15% income tax bracket for couples. The elimination of the "marriage penalty" tax would be offset by reducing the marginal tax rate reductions for the top two rate bracket
Vote to increase the tax deduction for college tuition costs from $5,000 to $12,000 and increase the tax credit on student loan interest from $500 to $1,000. The expense would be offset by limiting the cut in the top estate tax rate to 53%.
Vote on a bill that would reduce taxes on married couples by increasing their standard deduction to twice that of single taxpayers and raise the income limits on both the 15 percent and 28 percent tax brackets for married couples to twice that of singles
Vote on a bill that would eventually eliminate the tax imposed on estates and gifts by 2010 at an estimated cost of $75 billion annually when fully phased in.
The Nickles (R-OK) Amdendment would express the sense of the Senate that Congress should adopt an across-the-board cut in all discretionary funding, to prevent the plundering of the Social Security Trust Fund
Status: Amdt. Agreed to Y)54; N)46
This vote was on a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act against the Gramm (R-TX) amendment which would reduce taxes by $792 billion over 10 years by reducing all income tax rates by 10%, effectively eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty".
Status: Motion Rejected Y)46; N)54
Edwards scores 22% by NTU on tax-lowering policies