Elections have become closer and closer in the past ten years – most profoundly noticeable starting with the campaign between Bush and Gore in 2000 – and most recently with the democratic primary. It seems like the two-party system is somewhat to blame – having realistically only two choices isn’t enough to cover the complexity of political wants and needs.
Reading the article, “What they’ll do to your tax bill” at money.cnn.com about the differences in McCain and Obama’s view on tax codes is a perfect example of how something so complex and potentially divisive as how to distribute the tax burden can become so similar. This article is very detailed and provokes an emotional response on several points – such as how ridiculous it is that the Alternative Minimum Tax is still based on salary levels 40 years ago. But then, it’s pointed out how dependent the tax system has become on the AMT revenue, so how can any strong opinion on changing it turn into real tax impact for the typical person?
This quote in the article really struck a chord about how difficult it is to affect change in our system. “Distributionally, they’re [McCain and Obama's tax plans] markedly different. But in terms of their impact on revenue, the two plans are not terribly different,” said Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center.
So in the end – at least as far as tax policies go – does it really matter whether we have a Democrat or Republican in the White House? What do you think?
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