Posted on 10/16/2008 2:15:22 AM PDT by grundle
Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business, came to symbolize the notion of spreading the wealth in Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
Earlier this week, when Wurzelbacher got a chance to speak with Obama during a campaign appearance in Toledo, he told Obama that his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him.
Sensing an opportunity during the debate, McCain cited that exchange when the candidates were asked to explain why their economic plans are better than their opponent's. McCain said Obama's plan would stop entrepreneurs from investing in new small businesses and keep existing ones from growing.
"Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes," McCain challenged Obama.
"You were going to put him in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realize the American dream," McCain said.
McCain then looked directly into the television camera and said: "Joe, I want to tell you, I'll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and I'll keep your taxes low and I'll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees. And I will not stand for a tax increase on small business income."
Obama denied that was true.
"Not only do 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, but I also want to give them additional tax breaks, because they are the drivers of the economy," Obama said. "They produce the most jobs."
So what did Wurzelbacher (pronounced whur-zell-BAHK-er) think about becoming the center of the debate?
"It's pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign," he said minutes after hearing McCain utter his name.
Wurzelbacher came up again when the debate turned to a discussion of health care policies. McCain charged that Obama's plan would fine the company Wurzelbacher wanted to buy; Obama said small businesses were exempt.
"Hey Joe, you're rich. Congratulations," McCain said mockingly.
Wurzelbacher said Obama's reaction left him feeling uneasy.
"I didn't think much of it the first time I heard it," Wurzelbacher said, adding that he still thinks Obama's plan would keep him from buying the business.
About McCain: "He's got it right as far as I go."
Even so, Wurzelbacher declined to say which candidate would get his vote on Nov. 4.
"That's for me and a button to know," he said.
Even better, you are not working unless you get a ‘tax rebate ‘ from Obama. EITC is special points. Business owners are bad, government provides all the ‘good’ jobs.
I was on Wis. Public radio a few years back with candidate Dole and Kathleen Dunn was the host. I axed him why doesn’t he just be honest with people and tell them that he plans on raising their taxes. Kathleen scolded me and told me to be respectful. We got into a big fight on air that was played over and over for months.
You must be in Michigan then. The moving business OUT of MI is booming -- it's the only one that is.
That makes him seem more like an everyday guy who just had a light go on in his head. He is someone truly searching for answers and not a partisan. If he's not registered, that belies the accusations that he's a McCain plant. It's a positive for him - not a negative.
Someone should ask Biden if he thinks Joe is not being patriotic.
Small businesses don't pay capital gains taxes as a general rule until the business is sold.
Obama is not a bright man.
That's what I thought, but I wasn't quite sure if that's true with a closely held corporation. Say the owner/manager takes a big bonus & it's the only bonus that corporation pays out. It could be considered a draw of equity. That would be subject to capital gains & it wouldn't be a tax deductible event for the corp.
The laws for Sub-S may be different, but I've never dealt with one, so don't know.
I mentioned sole proprietorships & partnerships in my previous post. There's no way to have capital gains with those, other than selling, as you said. Taxes are always about money movement & a cap gain on those entities would be like taxing a guy for switching a dollar from one of his pockets to another.
I think Obama's advisers are all big corporation guys, who don't know how most of Main Street operates. I don't expect politicians to know the ins & outs of everything. I do expect them to have advisers that make up in areas they lack, so they don't make stupid policies. I give Obama an F, because he failed to bring in a knowledgeable small business adviser.
ROTFL "Kathleen, that's a hurtful thing to say." Slipping into left-speak (appeal to emotion) prevents the fight, cuz it freezes up their brains.
It's how Joe the plumber slipped through Obama's defense. Joe personalized the tax policy & made an emotional appeal. Notice Obama's initial response. "I don't want to punish you."
Boy, you nailed it!
He is no McCain plant because there is no way his campaign would had the smarts to think of that strategy.
It's more than an equal rate, because it doesn't just effect the pricing to the end user (consumer), it effects each business to business transaction required to bring the goods to the market.
Obama’s is cooking the books on this deal. He will get you in the pocket book!
I think he's dangerously ignorant. In Rummyspeak, he fails to seek out his own unknown unknowns.
First they came for your high powered plunger. Next they'll come for your Roto-rooter. At the same time, they've pushed low water WC's to raise the need for them.
Mass isn't the only state bleeding population. Wisconsin lost a Congressional seat after the last census & I think we may be losing another one after 2010.
And I've been giving it serious thought.
I have been doing the same.
LOL... and if you're a “typical white person”, you fold ONE slice in half.
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