Friday, May 20, 2016

Tax Proposals of the Three Presidential Candidates

Thomson Reuters RIA Checkpoint this week issued a summary of the tax proposals of the three remaining presidential candidates.  The summary is based largely on information provided on the candidate's websites as of May 17, 2016.  Excerpts from their article:

Hillary Clinton 

Individual tax reform: 

1.     Impose the "Buffett rule" requiring taxpayers earning more than $1 million per year to pay at least 30% in taxes, and "broadening the base of income subject to the rule."
2.     Enact the "Fair Share Surcharge"—i.e., an extra 4% surtax on taxpayers who make more than $5 million per year.
3.     Modify the treatment of capital gains for taxpayers in the highest bracket by implementing a graduated holding period where the rate decreases, from 39.6% to 20%, over a 6-year period, to promote long-term investment.
4.     Limit the tax value of certain tax breaks to 28%. 

Business tax reform:  

1.     Restrict corporate inversions by increasing, from 20% to 50%, the post-merger threshold of foreign shareholder ownership for an American company to be considered foreign.
2.     Impose an "exit tax" on companies that undergo an inversion to ensure that U.S. taxes are paid on unrepatriated earnings held overseas.
3.     Create a $1,500 "apprenticeship tax credit" for every new worker that a business trains and hires.
4.     Provide for a new 15% tax credit for employers that share profits with their workers.
5.     End "wasteful tax subsidies" for oil and gas companies. 

Estate tax reform: 

1.     Exempt the first $3.5 million of an individual's estate from estate tax ($7 million for married couples), without adjustment for inflation.
2.     Increase the top rate to 45%.
3.     Cap the lifetime gift tax exemption at $1 million. 

Miscellaneous tax reforms: 

1.     End the "carried interest" loophole (under which private equity and hedge fund managers are taxed at capital gains rather than ordinary income rates on fund income).
2.     Close the loophole under which taxpayers essentially avoid IRA contribution limits by undervaluing contributed assets, and preventing taxpayers with "mega IRAs" from contributing further.
3.     "Ask the wealthiest to contribute more" to Social Security, including "options to tax some of their income above the current Social Security cap, and taxing some of their income not currently taken into account by the Social Security system."  

Bernie Sanders 

Individual tax reform. 

1.     Leave the existing rates in place for married couples with income below $250,000 and single filers with incomes below $200,000. However, he would replace the existing top three rates (of 33%, 35%, and 39.6%) as follows:
a.     37% on income between $250,000 and $500,000;
b.     43% on income between $500,000 and $2 million;
c.      48% on income between $2 million and $10 million; and
d.     52% on income of $10 million and above.
2.     Replace the alternative minimum tax (AMT), personal exemption phase-out (PEP), and "Pease" limitation on itemized deductions with a provision limiting the tax savings for each dollar of deductions to 28¢ for "high-income households."
3.     Repeal the favorable rates on capital gains and dividends for married couples with incomes over $250,000 (which would instead be subject to the otherwise applicable income tax rate), while retaining the existing favorable treatment for taxpayers who fall under that threshold.  Increase the 3.8% surtax [established by the Affordable Care Act] on net investment income to 10%. 

Business tax reform: 

1.     End deferral of foreign-source income, instead requiring corporations to pay U.S. taxes on offshore profits as they are earned.
2.     Not allow a corporation to "claim to be from another country" if its management and control operations are primarily located in the U.S.
3.     Eliminate loopholes and subsidies that benefit oil, natural gas, and coal interests. 

Estate tax reform: 

1.     Exempt the first $3.5 million of an individual's estate from the estate tax.
2.     Establish a new progressive estate tax rate structure: 45% on the value of an estate between $3.5 million and $10 million; 50% for the value of an estate between $10 million and $50 million; and 55% for the value of an estate in excess of $50 million, with an "additional billionaire's surtax" of 10%.
3.     Strengthen the generation-skipping tax by applying it with no exclusion to any trust set up to last more than 50 years.
4.     Limit the annual exclusion from gift tax for gifts made to trusts. 

Miscellaneous tax reforms: 

1.     Enact a "Wall Street" or "financial transaction" tax on trades of stock (0.5%), bonds (0.1%), and derivatives (0.005%).
2.     Eliminate the Social Security wage base (for 2016, $118,500) so that everyone pays the same percentage of their income.
3.     End the "carried interest loophole."
4.     Enact a new payroll tax to fund paid family and medical leave.
5.     Create a 6.2% income-based health care payroll tax paid by employers, and a 2.2% income-based tax paid by households (both referred to as "premiums"), to help fund Medicare for all.  

Donald Trump

Individual tax reform: 

1.     Lower income tax rates as follows:
a.     0% for single filers earning up to $25,000, married filers earning up to $50,000, and heads of household earning up to $37,500;
b.     10% for single filers earning $25,001 to $50,000, married filers earning $50,001 to $100,000, and heads of household earning $37,501 to $75,000;
c.      20% for single earners earning $50,001 to $150,000, married filers earning $100,001 to $300,000, and heads of household earning $75,001 to $225,000; and
d.     25% for single filers earning $150,000 and up, married filers earning $300,001 and up, and heads of household earning $225,001 and up.
2.     Change the long-term capital gains and dividends rates to be:
a.     0% for taxpayers in the 0% and 10% income tax rate brackets;
b.     15% for taxpayers in the 15% income tax rate bracket; and
c.      20% for taxpayers in the 25% income tax rate bracket.
3.     Reduce personal exemptions and deductions.
a.     Taxpayers in the 10% brackets will keep "all or most" of their current deductions,
b.     Those in the 20% bracket will keep "more than half" of their current deductions, and
c.      Those in the 25% bracket will keep "fewer" deductions.
d.     Charitable giving and mortgage interest deductions, will remain unchanged for everyone.
e.     Individuals would also be allowed to fully deduct health insurance premium payments. 

Business tax reform: 

1.     Cut the corporate tax rate to 15% and also create a new "business income tax rate" within the "personal tax code" that would match the 15% corporate tax rate for pass-through businesses.
2.     Provide a one-time deemed repatriation of corporate cash held overseas at a 10% rate.
3.     End deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad.
4.     Reduce or eliminate corporate loopholes that "cater to special interests," as well as "deductions made unnecessary or redundant" by the new lower rates, and phasing in a "reasonable cap" on the deductibility of business interest expenses.  

Estate tax reform: 

1.     Eliminate the estate tax. 

Miscellaneous tax reforms:  

1.     End the current tax treatment of carried interest.
2.     Repeal the Affordable Care Act.

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