Phil Marti wrote:

- quote -

2) Taxes, like government overall, should be considered in a context
that extends beyond just one year and just one person or family.

As a simple example, government debt is a form of (indirect) taxation.

-Mark Bole

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Sorry, I read the group offline and had nothing to say in response to the OP
on this issue. Then I got around to reading today's papers.

There's an article in today's Washington Post business section about the
retirement savings proposals made by the candidates. What it made me
realize was that you can't go just by income in answering questions about
the proposals. There are all kinds of different treatments for different
circumstances and types of incomes.

I'm somewhat lucky in that my clients are VITA clients, and the only tax
proposal that could possibly have an adverse effect on them is McCain's
proposal regarding health insurance. Were I being queried by nervous
clients who actually might be affected by generic tax proposals, I'd be
sorely tempted to tell them to fuggedabowdit since candidates can propose
the moon, but nothing matters until Congress, more specifically, Ways &
Means, gets its hands on it, and Charlie Rangel's been too preoccupied to
offer much insight about his thoughts.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >