The economic programs and rhetoric of both major party presidential candidates leave much to be desired, but Barack Obama's tax ideas are truly alarming. For a good summary of what the tax code would look like if a President Obama got his way, see this chart from Stanford economist Michael Boskin:
As you can see, after-tax returns on ordinary income could plummet 32% under the Obama plan, while after-tax returns on capital gains could drop almost 27%. These are not "marginal" tax tweaks but enormous changes to the American tax code, and thus to American competitiveness.
No candidate who cares about American jobs, real wage levels, or health care benefits can seriously propose such penalties on investment and entrepreneurship. Obamanomics would make the U.S. one of the least tax-competitive nations on the planet, pushing jobs overseas, reducing real wages, and making it ever more difficult for employers to provide decent health care, not to mention discouraging the marginal American entrepreneur or innovator from launching or growing a company (aka, employer, health care provider, tax payer) of the the future.
