After a year of unprecedented government spending amid the coronavirus pandemic, how revenue will be collected to pursue future aid and to keep running the United States is under scrutiny. Republican incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden have significantly disparate views on tax collection in their platforms for the presidency.
Top Earners
Largely, the president would like to keep in place his 2017 income tax cuts (set to expire in 2025) that provided a reduction on the top marginal rate from 40 to 37 percent for the wealthiest earners.
Biden plans to return the rate back to near 40 percent and eliminate the $10,000 cap on state and local deductions that had the effect of raising taxes on households in high-tax states such as New York and California.
Middle-Income Earners
Both candidates say they want to cut taxes on households in the middle brackets. President Trump made a proposal prior to COVID-19 that would have lowered the 22 percent tax bracket down to 15 percent.
Meanwhile, Biden offers more incentivized tax breaks to encourage retirement savings, child care spending, and first-time home buying.
Corporate Taxes
Trump is sticking to the reduction made by his 2017 tax law that lowered corporate taxes to 21 percent from 35 percent.
Challenger Joe Biden would like that rate to be bumped up to 28 percent.
Both men offer plans to create tax incentives for domestic manufacturing.
Capital Gains
The 2020 presidential candidates differ particularly in taxing profits on stocks. President Trump would like to drop the top current rate from 20 percent to 15 percent and has even considered a temporary capital gains tax holiday.
Former Vice President Biden, however, plans to change existing rules in order to tax profits as ordinary income, which could potentially lead to a 40 percent tax on top earners on profits of more than $1 million.
Joe Kennedy III, a former congressman and co-founder of Give Us the Ballot, joined Cheddar News to discuss voting protections in the United States and how his campaign is aiming to fix the issue of voter suppression. "Yes, redistricting is critical — Give Us the Ballot though recognizes it's 'redistricting, and —', because voting rights has an implication for every single election at every single level: school board, mayor, city council, House of Representatives, Senate, president," he said. Kennedy also gave his thoughts about the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
Big Apple workers who deliver for food apps like Doordash and Grubhub will now receive a number of legal protections provided through a package of new regulations that have started going into effect. These updated rules include more control over their deliveries, pay and tip transparency, a higher minimum pay rate, and access to restaurant bathrooms during the workday. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander joined Cheddar to elaborate on the regulations and how the platform holders reacted. "I have to say it's a mixed bag," he said. "Grubhub actually welcomed the legislation and said they recognize they need to do better by their deliveristas, but DoorDash, unfortunately, has actually been pushing back against the legislation."
Thomas Hoenig, Former CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and currently Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Mercatus Center, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the Fed's decision was no surprise, but believes the Fed is behind the curve on raising rates.
Legal cannabis businesses are having a hard time surviving in California with the high cost of doing business and a still-thriving illicit market. In response, nonprofit Supernova Women, founded by women of color, is advocating on behalf of Black and brown shareholders in the cannabis industry. Amber Senter, co-founder, executive director, and chairman of the organization, spoke with Cheddar News about calling for changes in the Golden State's taxation system for legal marijuana. "We're really leaning on the legislators now to support the industry and make sure that this industry, in particular craft cannabis, can survive," said Senter.
After being among the hardest-hit industries by the pandemic, restaurants are still having a hard time staying afloat, with owners claiming that business is worse now due to closures from staff shortages and customer decline than it was three months ago. Mike Whatley, vice president of state affairs and grassroots advocacy for the National Restaurant Association, spoke to Cheddar News about how the sector is reaching out to lawmakers for help. "Working with Senators Wicker, Sinema, and a whole host of bipartisan leaders, we're trying to get the Restaurant Revitalization Fund replenished," Whatley said.
Communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and continuously feel the impacts. Mark Magaña, founding president and CEO of Green Latinos joined All Hands to discuss.
The memoir, "COMPROMISED: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump", tells a familiar story from a bit of a different source: Peter Strzok himself, former FBI Counterintelligence Agents and Agency Veteran who spent most of his very long career investigating some of the most controversial inquiries, most notably in recent American history. Those inquiries were Hillary Clinton's email to even Trump Russia investigations. Former FBI Agent and Author of "Compromised" Peter Strzok, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
