I love my sister. I do. But she’s an evangelical and a Republican right down to the polish on her toenails. She lives in Springfield and thrives in that Bible belt culture. So lots of topics are verboten between us, chief among them religion and politics, followed closely by science and history. But we love each other enough to shut. up.

Her concern for my pocketbook got the better of her today, though, and she forwarded to me and my other sister–the liberal/commie one–this letter from a VP at Wachovia:

THIS WILL CHANGE YOUR RETIREMENT…..

For those among you who have more money than you will ever need, save your time and delete this email.

For the rest of us who are still working with mortgages, children and grandchildren or retired living on a pension and or Social Security perhaps you will take a couple of minutes to read the proposed changes in the American tax system.

Sharing this email with others can make a difference on November 4, 2008; for our citizens and our country.

INTERESTING DATA ON PROPOSED TAXES

This is something you should be aware of so you don’t get blind-sided. This is really going to catch a lot of families off guard. It should make you worry.

Proposed changes in taxes after 2008 General election:

CAPITAL GAINS TAX

MCCAIN

0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples) McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.

OBAMA

28% on profit from ALL home sales

How does this affect you?  If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.  If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.

DIVIDEND TAX

MCCAIN 15% (no change)

OBAMA 39.6%

How will this affect you?  If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama become president. The experts predict that higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.

INCOME TAX

MCCAIN (no changes)

Single making 30K – tax $4,500

Single making 50K – tax $12,500

Single making 75K – tax $18,750

Married making 60K- tax $9,000

Married making 75K – tax $18,750

Married making 125K – tax $31,250

OBAMA

(Reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)

Single making 30K – tax $8,400

Single making 50K – tax $14,000

Single making 75K – tax $23,250

Married making 60K – tax $16,800

Married making 75K – tax $21,000

Married making 125K – tax $38,750

Under Obama your taxes will more than double!  How does this affect you?

No explanation needed. This is pretty straight forward.

INHERITANCE TAX

MCCAIN 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)

OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax

How does this affect you? Many families have lost businesses, farms and ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will now only lose them to these taxes.

NEW TAXES BEING PROPOSED BY OBAMA

New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet

New gasoline taxes

New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water,

electricity)

New taxes on retirement accounts

New taxes to pay for socialized medicine

Thank You

Robert D. Jenkins

Vice President – Investments

Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor

Wachovia Securities, LLC

314-991-7812

800-999-4448 toll-free

robert.jenkins@wachoviaseccom

http://www.home.wachoviasecurities.com/robert.jenkins

Hmmph! I figured I’d find it on Snopes and sure enough, there it was. Snopes opined as how the letter:

is off the mark both in its broad strokes and in its particulars. According to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis of the candidates’ proposed tax changes, the primary difference between them would be distributional, with Senator Obama’s proposals favoring lower-income taxpayers and Senator McCain’s favoring higher-income taxpayers.

McCain: the average taxpayer in every income group would see a lower tax-bill, but high-income taxpayers would benefit more than everyone else.

Obama: High-income taxpayers would pay more in income taxes, while everyone else’s tax bill would be reduced. Those who benefit the most–in terms of reducing their taxes as a percentage of after tax income–are in the lowest income groups.

I graciously admitted to my Republican sister that I’ve also been fooled by info forwarded to me on the internet. For weeks, back in 2004, I believed that a study had shown Democratic presidents to have high IQs and Republicans to have low ones. Made sense to me. The only problem was that Snopes said it was hogwash. So I blushed and scrapped my belief in that study (though not my belief in Dubya’s low IQ).

My sister, however, a Republican to the bone, doesn’t believe Snopes and wants to know who these people at the Tax Policy Center are. Sheesh. It’s the Brookings Institution, which her sources will no doubt label as liberal commies. I’m through discussing it, though. Let her live in la-la land; I’m not traveling there with her anymore.

But I love her anyway. She’s my sister, for god’s sake.