A new, simple tool created by Vox and the Tax Policy Foundation calculates how much money you may expect to lose or gain under the tax proposals outlined by the current presidential candidates.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz propose big cuts that would significantly reduce federal income taxes for everyone, especially the wealthy, while cutting a variety of government programs. Bernie Sanders proposes the opposite: big tax increases for everyone, especially the wealthy, while adding comprehensive government programs. Hillary Clinton proposes much smaller tax increases, all focused on the wealthy.
"The Tax Policy Center did not perform an analysis of John Kasich's tax plan because his plan lacks sufficient detail to model," a note on the tool says. "(Analysts) have reached out to the Kasich campaign in search of more details and will analyze the plan if they receive enough information to do so."
The calculator asks for users to enter their salary, marriage status and number of children. Then, it generates the increase or decrease in tax dollars that the user could expect.
Under a Trump presidency, citizens could expect "(huge) tax cuts without explicit offsetting spending cuts." Under Cruz, most could expect a "10 percent flat rate on income tax and 16 percent value-added tax." The Sanders administation would generate "big tax increases, mostly on the rich, to pay for big programs." Clinton's plan would prompt taxes to "stay about the same."
But remember: The numbers are only estimates. Every taxpayer has a different situation with different claims and writeoffs.
Whoever becomes the next president will need support from Congress to enact his or her tax plan, and it’s likely that that person's campaign policy papers won’t entirely reflect what ends up being approved.
Try the calculator here.
