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"Like most Americans, I&amp;#39;m not a fan of paying taxes. However, I do tend to like some of the things I get for the money I pay, like roads. With John McCain and Barack Obama both focusing on their tax plans right now, I thought it would be a good time for me to as well. Lucky for you (and possibly unluckily for them), I spent a year working at a tax think tank, so I know a little bit about how the system functions&amp;#8212;hint: not well. I&amp;#39;m also the kind of person who does her own taxes&amp;#8212;with the help of one of those computer programs, because I&amp;#39;m not crazy. But, between switching jobs, moving between states and itemizing my deductions, most of my tax returns have looked that way!\nIt&amp;#39;s important to note that most of what the candidates say they are going to do about taxes isn&amp;#39;t aimed at young people or young women. That&amp;#39;s mostly because people under 35 already pay less in taxes. Studies show that your peak tax-paying years are between 35 and 64, when you are earning more.\nObama&amp;#39;s plan is part of his overall economic stimulus plan which also includes proposed solutions to the mortgage crisis, and trade policy and health care reform. On taxes, Obama proposes a &amp;quot;Making Work Pay&amp;quot; refundable tax credit of $500 per person or $1000 per family that will offset payroll taxes (the taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare) on the first $8,100 of income, as well as some payroll tax assistance for small employers and the self-employed. As someone who is self-employed, I would be able to take advantage of those latter credits&amp;#8212;being self-employed means you pay both the employee and employer portions of the Social Security taxes on your wages, which in effect doubles what you pay into the Social Security system (not that I expect to see any money out of that anyway by the time I retire). If you&amp;#39;re not self-employed, you&amp;#39;ll likely get the MWP credits. You&amp;#39;re only hosed if you make more than $250,000 per year, since Obama&amp;#39;s plan raises taxes for those people to help the rest of us.\nIn addition to those credits, Obama proposes simplifying the tax filing process. This will be great for those with have one job and few deductions, but won&amp;#39;t help me in particular because my employment status makes me ineligible for the simplified system. He&amp;#39;d also increase the college tuition and the child and dependent care tax credits, neither of which will help your average post-college single woman (though the latter would help our friend Chrissy). He does propose letting the Bush tax plans expire in 2010 as scheduled, including the capital gains rate reduction. This would be a minor annoyance for me, as I own 100 shares of stock that, if I sold it after 2010, I would pay a higher tax rate. I have a 401K and own a condominium, but I can avoid any capital gains tax on them if I don&amp;#39;t touch the 401k until my retirement and reinvest any money I make from selling the condo within two years. All in all, I don&amp;#39;t do badly under Obama&amp;#39;s plans, but most of what he proposes won&amp;#39;t help me in the short run.\nOne would think that a tax plan developed by the Republican candidate would be more comprehensive and cover more people. In this case, one would be wrong. John McCain&amp;#39;s plan wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which would save me paying 10 percent more if I sell my measly stock holdings, and little else. In addition, he continues to propose a gas tax holiday to last until Labor Day. I drive a small car that gets about 35 mpg and I fill up my 10 gallon tank every two weeks (and accounting for one short road trip). His 18.5 cent/gallon tax will save me about $15 if he enacts it this week. I&amp;#39;m not too excited. But those of you with SUVs&amp;#8212;woohoo!\nMcCain also proposes repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which I&amp;#39;ve never paid and am unlikely to be subject to in the short term&amp;#8212;it mostly affects families with children making way more money than me. He also wants to double the personal exemption for dependents, of which I have none. Other than those, and a promise to keep the internet and cell phone service relatively tax free, the rest of his tax plan is aimed at businesses. As far as I can tell, nothing in John McCain&amp;#39;s tax plans will have a direct impact on most young, single women, though I&amp;#39;m sure he&amp;#39;d argue that his business tax policies will create economic stimulus and help me (and you) stay employed.\nIn the end, despite the stereotype that my taxes should go up under a Democratic tax plan and down under a Republican, it seems that Obama&amp;#39;s tax plan is most likely to lower my tax bills and McCain&amp;#39;s plan will do little or nothing at all for me. What do you think they&amp;#39;ll do for you?\n&amp;#8212;Megan\nPS: For a really detailed analysis of the presidential tax plans, check the Tax Policy Center&amp;#39;s Report. (It&amp;#39;s a downloadable pdf.)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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