April 16, 2008--John McCain: Fill 'er Up!
Born-again tax cutter John McCain unveiled his tax reduction plan yesterday. It was timed to take political advantage of the April 15th tax-filing deadline and to remind everyone with any shred of long-term memory that though he was a fierce opponent of Ronald Reagan’s tax cut legislation he now favors it, and then some.
Sort of like John Kerry who voted against it before he voted for it before he voted against it.
He continued to call for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, claiming that it is legitimate and good economic policy to provide tax relief (if this is the proper way to put it) for the wealthiest two or three percent because they use the money they save in taxes to stimulate the economy for the rest of us. Trickle-down—remember that?
And he also called for reducing corporate taxes from 35 to 25 percent. Trickle-down again.
But at the political center of his proposals, since none of these others directly touch “average” Americans, and because he does not want to appear to “condescend” to them if he wants to avoid looking as if he is “out of touch” with working folks or an “elitist,” for Joe-Six-Pack there is McCain’s call for the suspension of the federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day through Labor Day. To make it possible for regular folks pushing around campers and SUVs to get a little more bang out of their summer vacation dollars.
When I mentioned this to a friend this morning he said that it sounds good. That’s why he is thinking about voting for McCain. This shows how much he cares about “the little people.” Why, he said, this tax moratorium would save him twenty, thirty bucks every time he filled up.
“How do you get to that number?” I asked.
“Well, at about $2.00 a gallon for taxes, if I add say 10-15 gallons to my tank every week that’s real money.”
“Oh, really,” I said. “Do you know that the federal tax on gas is only 18.4 cents a gallon?”
“Jeez. I thought it was much more than that.”
“That’s the number. Take a look. It’s right here in the NY Times.”
He peered over my shoulder. “You could have fooled me.” I resisted saying that’s sort of the point—to fool you.
“Let me think,” he said taking out his pen and writing some numbers on my paper. “If I add 15 gallons to my tank, at a tax savings of 18.4 cents, that’s, what, about $2.75?”
“$2.76.” I couldn’t hold back from tweaking him. Every penny counts when it comes to tax cuts for ordinary citizens.
“OK, I stand corrected. But what does it add up to for the whole summer?”
“Let’s say you fill up once a week for all 12 weeks.”
He ran the number and said, “So that would total a little more than $33 in savings.” He shrugged his shoulders and with an edge added, “So McCain’s a shit too. What else is new?”
His having said that unleashed me, “One thing you can say about Senator Straight Talk is that he didn’t pander to voters by calling for this tax suspension to extend to Election Day. That much I’ll give him credit for.” My friend was nodding.
“For a guy who pretends to care about working people it sure took him a while to realize that he’d better say something about providing relief for people facing foreclosure on their mortgages. Just telling us he’d keep an eye on the situation if he were president wasn’t going to cut it with voters so he shifted his position pretty fast.”
I sensed that I was making headway when my friend sarcastically said, “Yeah, and when is he going to release his own tax forms the way the other two did? I’ll bet with his wife’s inheritance income they made as much as the Clintons.”
About that I wasn’t sure. Raking in $105.0 million during the last few years, and who knows how much Bill Clinton made in 2007 (they filed an extension so we won’t know until after the Democratic convention), is for certain a lot more than the McCain’s income.
Though I’m sure it will be much, much more than the elitist Obamas earned. So the good news in all of this is that maybe Michelle and Barack can use McCain’s $33.00 to help pay off the last of their student loans.
Sort of like John Kerry who voted against it before he voted for it before he voted against it.
He continued to call for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, claiming that it is legitimate and good economic policy to provide tax relief (if this is the proper way to put it) for the wealthiest two or three percent because they use the money they save in taxes to stimulate the economy for the rest of us. Trickle-down—remember that?
And he also called for reducing corporate taxes from 35 to 25 percent. Trickle-down again.
But at the political center of his proposals, since none of these others directly touch “average” Americans, and because he does not want to appear to “condescend” to them if he wants to avoid looking as if he is “out of touch” with working folks or an “elitist,” for Joe-Six-Pack there is McCain’s call for the suspension of the federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day through Labor Day. To make it possible for regular folks pushing around campers and SUVs to get a little more bang out of their summer vacation dollars.
When I mentioned this to a friend this morning he said that it sounds good. That’s why he is thinking about voting for McCain. This shows how much he cares about “the little people.” Why, he said, this tax moratorium would save him twenty, thirty bucks every time he filled up.
“How do you get to that number?” I asked.
“Well, at about $2.00 a gallon for taxes, if I add say 10-15 gallons to my tank every week that’s real money.”
“Oh, really,” I said. “Do you know that the federal tax on gas is only 18.4 cents a gallon?”
“Jeez. I thought it was much more than that.”
“That’s the number. Take a look. It’s right here in the NY Times.”
He peered over my shoulder. “You could have fooled me.” I resisted saying that’s sort of the point—to fool you.
“Let me think,” he said taking out his pen and writing some numbers on my paper. “If I add 15 gallons to my tank, at a tax savings of 18.4 cents, that’s, what, about $2.75?”
“$2.76.” I couldn’t hold back from tweaking him. Every penny counts when it comes to tax cuts for ordinary citizens.
“OK, I stand corrected. But what does it add up to for the whole summer?”
“Let’s say you fill up once a week for all 12 weeks.”
He ran the number and said, “So that would total a little more than $33 in savings.” He shrugged his shoulders and with an edge added, “So McCain’s a shit too. What else is new?”
His having said that unleashed me, “One thing you can say about Senator Straight Talk is that he didn’t pander to voters by calling for this tax suspension to extend to Election Day. That much I’ll give him credit for.” My friend was nodding.
“For a guy who pretends to care about working people it sure took him a while to realize that he’d better say something about providing relief for people facing foreclosure on their mortgages. Just telling us he’d keep an eye on the situation if he were president wasn’t going to cut it with voters so he shifted his position pretty fast.”
I sensed that I was making headway when my friend sarcastically said, “Yeah, and when is he going to release his own tax forms the way the other two did? I’ll bet with his wife’s inheritance income they made as much as the Clintons.”
About that I wasn’t sure. Raking in $105.0 million during the last few years, and who knows how much Bill Clinton made in 2007 (they filed an extension so we won’t know until after the Democratic convention), is for certain a lot more than the McCain’s income.
Though I’m sure it will be much, much more than the elitist Obamas earned. So the good news in all of this is that maybe Michelle and Barack can use McCain’s $33.00 to help pay off the last of their student loans.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:44 AM
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