Tax Joy

Recently I listened to an episode of Fresh Air on which guest Len Berman analyzed the budgetary plans of Obama and McCain. They modeled the effect of each plan, inferring the specifics when necessary and using information on the current demographics of income.

Issue	McCain	Obama
Income Tax	Status quo	More progressive schedule
Bottom 20%	$100 cut	$700 cut
Middle 20%	$1400 cut	$2100 cut
High income	Extend cuts	Return to 2001 levels
Loss of income tax revenue over 10 years	$5 trillion (10% of scheduled revenue)	$3.4 trillion (7%)
Alternative Minimum Tax	Repeal (another $400 million reduced revenue)	Adjust exemption to inflation (presumably)
Capital Gains Tax	Keep rate at 15%	Increase rate to 25% or so
Estate Tax	$5 million exemption, 15% rate	$3.5 million exemption, 45% rate
Corporate tax	Cut current rate of 35%	-
Health care	Detach health insurance from employer	Health insurance exchange

He added the following remarks.

• Income tax: The top percentile earns 16% of the nation's income, the highest level since the eve of the Great Depression.
  
• Capital Gains Tax: Low tax stimulates investment but also gives an incentive to make regular income look like capital gains via "tax shelters".
• Estate Tax: Most progressive tax because it only applies to very wealthy individuals. It is also a backstop to income tax sheltering.
• Corporate tax: Our current rate of 35% is among the highest in developed countries which encourages off-shore tax sheltering.
  

Our President's Next Career

NPR broadcast our President's press conference on Tuesday morning during Morning Edition: oh, joy! Unfortunately, I was driving, so was not able to fully appreciate his 'remarks'. Bush is wasted in the Oval Office! He should be recording bedtime stories for Republicans. Imagine: the repetition, the soothing cadence, the thoughtful pauses, the simplistic concepts, all delivered in that familiar, self-assured, Texan voice. I'd call it 'Bed-time with Bush' and market it on Fox News.

Ruthless green part 3

Now that I have thoroughly trashed the Wired article on global warming, I shall highlight some of its better points. The following two items show that liberals and environmentalists are not the same thing.

3. Organics are not the answer
The organic cow produces less milk and more green house gas. How much? Hmm now 8% and 16%... doing the math that Wired consistently fails to do... okay the per gallon global warming cost of organic milk is ... 25% higher.

Okay, I am not as happy about the second point here, which is to become a vegetarian or at least a non-beef-atarian. How much? The omnivore is 50% more intensive than the herbivore.

The final note in this section is that some food is organically grown and then shipped long distances. Eat local.

8. Embrace nuclear power
The CO2 per kilowatt-hour of Vermont is way lower than any other state. How much? Vermont is 10% of Idaho, the next best state. It is less than 1% of the median state. Holy cow! (non-organic of course)

So what is the secret to Vermont's magic? Well, call me crazy, but the fact that 75% of its electricity is nuclear is something. One study shows that, when factoring in the mining costs etc, nuclear electricity emits 2 to 6% of the CO2 of natural gas. Only wind power comes close, and wind power cannot be produced on the same scale. Congrats are due to Vermont, France, Finland, Japan and South Korea.