The rich get richer and the poor get- children!*

I still haven't decided who I want to vote for yet, I wanted to wait until the Democratic candidate was decided before I paid much attention. Now that we're down to Obama and McCain, I'm ready to get down to brass tacks and check out the candidates positions on the major issues- and as much as we're all complaining about gas prices, I'm pretty sure there's more important things we as voters should be checking into.

According to Michael Scherer, Washington correspondent on the election for Time Magazine, the reputable and non-partisan Tax Policy Center has done a preliminary evaluation of the Obama and McCain tax plans. What struck me most interesting about their report was the difference in who the candidates proposed plans would benefit.

"The two candidates' plans would have sharply different distributional effects. Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households. . . In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution, while taxpayers with the highest income would see their taxes rise."

Hmm, should the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? I'm pretty sure this has been the way things always have been between Republicans and Democrats- but it still smacks to read it in print. It's pretty clear who's going to get my support on this issue- and I'd like to think it's not just because Obama's plan would be advantageous for me. *from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Image source: New York Times