Campaign Gimmick vs. Real Growth Policy

Press Release

Today, September 11, 2008, candidate Darcy Burner released her *economic plan* for the 8th District of Washington. The plan is composed largely of political sleight-of-hand she hopes voters won't recognize. At it's core, the plan is a campaign gimmick designed to allow Ms. Burner to appear she is tax-friendly, while in fact she has merely cherry-picked portions of a tax plan for political purposes.

Ms. Burner clearly believes that the money hard-working Americans earn is better sent back to Washington DC rather than kept at home where it can be saved, spent, or invested as taxpayers see fit, because she supports expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts - cuts that have proven to create jobs and increase investment. At minimum, her proposed plan would take $12 billion - annually—out of Washington state taxpayers' pockets, and out of our economy. This is bad for individuals, families, children and small businesses. The last thing we should do while families are struggling with rising energy, housing, and food costs is to raise taxes.

DARCY BURNER'S PLAN TO PUNISH THE MIDDLE CLASS
-A $3.6 TRILLION tax hike that raises individual income taxes for all taxpayers, cuts jobs, curtails growth, and discourages investment.
-Increases a deduction that the majority of median-income families in WA-08 do not use.
-Revives the Death Tax to punish job-creating small business owners and family farms, the engine of the American economy.
-Reinstates the Marriage Penalty, taxing couples at a higher rate than they would be taxed by filing individually.
-Raises the capital gains tax to 20%, punishing seniors saving for retirement and discouraging investments to create jobs and wealth.
-Raises taxes on individuals who invest and risk capital to support small business start-ups or new alternative energy and medical technologies.
-Reduces investment in partnerships like university endowments and employee pension funds.
-Increases Social Security payroll taxes, reducing worker wages and harming retirement savings.

DAVE REICHERT'S PATH TO PROSPERITY
-Pro-growth, across-the-board tax relief that makes permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, keeps income taxes low, and offers new tax incentives to help Americans with the rising costs of health care, food, and gasoline.
-Adds new tax incentives for the purchase of health insurance and deductions for expenses like health care premiums and teacher classroom supplies.
-Permanently repeals the Death Tax.
-Preserves marriage penalty relief.
- Ensures that the maximum tax on capital gains remains at the low 15% rate to encourage investment; indexes capital gains for inflation.
-Supports tax incentives for R&D and the purchase of machinery needed to increase production.
-Supports incentives to invest, grow our economy, create jobs, and keep America competitive in the global marketplace.
-Enables families to save money in tax-free accounts for their children's college education, a first home purchase, or to roll-over into retirement savings accounts.

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