So by all now we have seen this admittedly funny DNC ad on Romney’s tax plan. But what do we actually know about the candidates’ tax plans? And how are they going to impact your wallet? The answers to these questions AND many more in “Obama vs. Romney on Taxes,” a wonderfully detailed breakdown by our tax experts.)
Finance Debate Bingo. BRILLIANT. Thanks, Yahoo!
If Congress fails to extend the payroll tax holiday, you’ll see the difference in your paycheck. It’s scheduled to expire December 31, and neither President Obama nor Governor Romney seem interested in extending it. You can calculate your exact (welp!) losses here.
How Many of These 21 Government Programs Have You Benefited From?
According to 2008 data from the Cornell Survey Research Institute reported Monday in a Times opinion piece, 96 percent of Americans — not 47 percent — have taken part in at least one of these government programs:
- Head Start
- Social Security Disability
- Social Security Retirement and Survivors Benefits
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Welfare (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or T.A.N.F.)
- G.I. Bill
- Veterans’ benefits
- Pell Grants
- Unemployment Insurance
- Food Stamps
- Government Subsidized Housing
- Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
- Hope and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits
- Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
- 529 accounts (qualified tuition programs) or Coverdell education savings account (Education I.R.A.’s)
- Earned-income tax credit
- Employer subsidized health insurance
- Employer subsidized retirement benefits
- Federal student loans
Student loans! Mortgage interest deduction! We are the 96%.
Politify lets you fill in your personal information and see which candidate’s economic policies most benefit you and your city. When I tried some national medians, Mitt came out on top. But when I put in my age and income, Obama won by a landslide. The site is a nonpartisan project based on data from the Census Bureau and IRS.
Voters have never felt so differently about economic news as they do today. From Pew:
With the election less than two months away, partisan differences in views of economic news have become wider than ever. Despite this month’s lackluster jobs report, there has been a modest decline in the percentage of Americans saying news about the economy is mostly bad – with virtually all of the change coming among Democrats …
Amid the nation’s financial crisis four years ago, there were virtually no differences in how Republicans, Democrats and independents viewed economic news. About eight-in-ten in each group said the news they were hearing was mostly bad.
Differences in perceptions of economic news emerged after Barack Obama took office. But they never have been as great as they are today.
This is actually a pretty accurate quiz I suggest you take it :)
Neat! We know there aren’t too many undecided voters in this election, but this is still a fun little quiz …
Are you better off now than you were four years ago? CNN Money has a really cool interactive on the subject.
