Bullet Points on John McCain's Economic Plan, Some May Surprise You

The following are the bullet points on John McCain's economic plan outlined in an April 15, 2008 press release on www.johnmccain.com:

• Reduce the Federal Corporate Tax Rate to 25% from 35%.
• Institute a one-year spending pause to evaluate programs. Outside of essential military and veterans programs there should be a one-year discretionary spending pause that should be used for a top-to-bottom review of the effectiveness of federal programs.
• Establish alternative new and simpler tax system. Those who wish to stay under the current system could still do so, but everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a "generous" standard deduction.
• Permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
• Double the personal exemption for dependents from $3,500 to $7,000.
• Raise the exemption from taxation on estates up to $10 million while cutting the tax rate to 15%.
• End ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas that drive up food prices.
• Summer Gas Tax Holiday to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
• Stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to reduce demand.
• "HOME Plan"-For homeowners with non-conventional mortgages taken after 2005 who live in their home (primary residence only); can prove creditworthiness at the time of the original loan; are either delinquent, in arrears on payments, facing a reset or otherwise demonstrate that they will be unable to continue to meet their mortgage obligations; and can meet the terms of a new 30 year fixed-rate mortgage on the existing home, the mortgage servicer will write down and retire the existing loan, which will be replaced by an FHA guaranteed HOME loan from a lender.
• Formation of a Justice Department Mortgage Abuse Task Force.
• "Student Loan Continuity Plan"- McCain will calls on the federal government and the 50 governors to anticipate student loan accessibility problems and expand the lender-of-last resort capabilities for each state's guarantee agency.
• Cut taxes for the middle class.
• Require a 3/5 majority vote in Congress to raise taxes.
• Keep the current rates on dividends and capital gains.
• Permit corporations to immediately deduct the cost of equipment investment.
• Ban Internet taxes.
• Ban new cell phone taxes.
• Establish permanent tax credit equal to 10% of wages spent on R&D.
• Lower medicare premiums.
• Stop earmarks, pork-barrel spending, and waste.
• Balancing the federal budget.
• Reform civil service system to promote accountability and good performance in the Federal workforce.
• Reform Social Security by supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts.
• Control Medicare growth.
• Lower barriers to international trade.
• Make American workers more competitive by improving education.
• Reform the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system so that a portion of each worker's Unemployment Insurance Tax is deposited into a Lost Earnings Buffer Account (LEB) that can be used by the unemployed to cover needed expenses, with a backstop of traditional UI if the account is exhausted before 26 weeks.
• Reform training programs to provide quick assistance to workers seeking new skills.
• Comprehensive health care reform.
• National energy strategy that declares independence from the risk bred by our reliance on oil imported from petro-dictators and the vulnerability to the troubled politics of their lands.

Source: http://johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/b61edf42-a65d-4c4d-b038-6123db8fc2a5.htm