October 29, 2020
In
Blog, Our Two Cents
With Election Day just around the corner, we wanted to help you sift through the rhetoric by providing you with a comparison of Trump and Biden’s tax proposals. Of course, it bears noting that these proposals often change once a candidate is elected, but here is where the candidates stand as of today.
| Donald Trump | Joe Biden | |
| Individual tax cuts | Permanency for the individual provisions under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. | Increase the maximum child and dependent care credit from $2,100 to $8,000. |
| Create $5B in tax credits for contributions under the Education Freedom Scholarship program. | Institute a refundable $15,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. | |
| Implement tax-free investments into universal savings accounts. | Implement a renter’s credit to reduce rent and utilities to 30% of income. | |
| Expand the earned income tax credit for taxpayers over 65. | ||
| Business tax cuts |
Permanency of 100 percent bonus depreciation.
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10 percent credit for reopening plants and facilities and expanding production in the United States. |
| Permanency of 20 percent pass-through deduction. | Incentive for businesses that manufacture drugs and other critical products. | |
| Tax credits for companies that: 1) create jobs in America; and 2) bring jobs back to America. | Small-business tax break for starting a retirement plan. | |
| Credits for expanding new markets expanded. | ||
| Credit for low-income housing expanded. | ||
| Credit for businesses that build an onside childcare-facility. | ||
| Business tax increases | None | 21 percent minimum tax for global intangible low-taxed income. |
| Tax penalty for corporations who move jobs offshore. | ||
| Tax penalty for drug manufacturers who increase prices beyond inflation. | ||
| Individual tax rate | Permanency for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rate cuts. | Raise the top tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent. |
| Cut taxes by 10 percent for the middle class. | Place a threshold on the value of tax deductions at 28 percent. | |
| Reduce the 22 percent tax bracket to 15 percent. | On wages over $400,000, implement a 12.4% payroll tax. | |
| Corporate tax rate | No change. Keep 21 percent tax rate. | Raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. |
| Institute a 15 percent minimum tax on global book income over 100 million. | ||
| Estate tax | Permanency for Tax Cuts and Jobs Act estate-tax provisions. | Restore estate tax rates to pre-TCJA norms.
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| Eliminate stepped-up basis for inherited capital assets. | ||
| Capital gains | No changes. | Taxed as ordinary income at top rate (which Biden would increase from 37 percent to 39.6 percent) on income above $1 million. |
| Energy | Eliminate: 1) credits for electric vehicles and 2) accelerated depreciation for renewable energy property. | Instate full credit for electric vehicles. |
| Repeal: 1) the residential energy efficient property credit; and 2) the renewable energy investment credit. | Extend tax incentives for companies that create jobs in energy efficiency and clean energy. | |
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Reinstate tax credits for residential energy efficiency.
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| Create incentives for: 1) carbon capture technology; and 2) manufacturing companies that make energy efficient upgrades. |