Americans for Tax Reform

PRESS RELEASE FROM AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM
Contact: John Kartch ( jkartch@atr.org or 202-785-0266)

	Current Law	McCain	Obama
Top Tax Rate	35%	35%	39.6%
Lowest Tax Rate	10%	10%	15%
Capital Gains Rate	15%	15%	20%
Dividends Rate	15%	15%	39.6%
Death Tax	0% by 2010 (Repealed)	15%/$10 million	55%/$1 million
Marriage Penalty	None Under $150,000	None Under $150,000	Full from Dollar One
Child Tax Credit	$1000	$1000	$500
AMT Rate	28%	0% (Repealed)	28%
Self-Employment Rate	37.9%	37.9%	54.9%
Corporate Income Tax	35%	25%	35%
Business Infrastructure	Long and Complex Depreciation	Full Expensing	Long and Complex Depreciation

The first $5 million ($10 million for a surviving spouse) of an estate would be death tax-exempt

The “marriage penalty” refers to a married couple paying a higher amount of combined income tax than if they each filed taxes as single

The “alternative minimum tax” (AMT) requires taxpayers to calculate their taxes two ways, and pay whichever method results in a higher tax owed

Self-employed taxpayers pay both ordinary income tax and self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare)

The U.S. corporate income tax is currently the second-highest in the developed world. The average European corporate income tax rate is about 25%

It takes larger businesses several years to deduct machinery and equipment, even though they purchase the business asset in year one (e.g. a computer must be slowly-deducted over six calendar years)

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Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose any and all federal and state tax increases. For more information, or to arrange an interview with Mr. Norquist please contact John Kartch at (202)785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.