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McCain stresses the former and Obama the latter, says The Tax Foundation senior economist.
Rich Sickler operates a wire drawing machine at Bridon American in the Hanover Industrial Estates. The presidential candidates have differing plans for preserving manufacturing jobs.
Fred adams/the times leader
Small business owner Rocco Ciavarella Jr. does some computer work at the warehouse used by his company RAC Enterprises LLC in the Valmont Industrial Park in West Hazleton. Ciavarella said small businesses like his rarely get noticed or helped financially by officials in Washington, D.C.
Pete G. Wilcox/ The Times Leader
As the presidential candidates talk about jobs, taxes and the economy, it’s easy for voters going about working, raising families and paying their bills to miss the fundamental differences in their economic philosophies.
There are significant policy contrasts between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, and some can be simply stated in more appealing terms than capital gains, infrastructure investments and research and development tax credits.
Think of a pie, suggested Gerald Prante, a senior economist with The Tax Foundation. It could be apple, cherry or banana cream like the slice that Obama ate on his latest visit to the Wyoming Valley.
“McCain, he’s more focused on overall economic growth, expanding the economic pie,” said Prante. “Obama is more concerned with the distribution of that pie.”
The distinctions are detailed in the pages of the candidates’ position papers that Prante and others have reviewed.
Obama’s plan lowers tax bills more for the middle class than his opponent. McCain, on the other hand, wants to lower corporate income taxes in a move that favors big business. But the potential secondary benefits are less apparent, Prante added, in terms of higher dividends to shareholders and higher wages for workers.
Obama’s policies would have more near-term effects. McCain’s, because they focus on growth, would be more long-term, Prante explained.
As much as Obama has tried to paint McCain as a recycled George W. Bush, McCain has tried to distance himself from the current White House resident.
For Tomya Acevedo, McCain can’t shake the comparison to the current president.
The 38-year-old Acevedo sounded a theme of Obama’s campaign as she and another woman exited the Pennsylvania Career Link office on East Union Street, Wilkes-Barre recently.
Acevedo, of Wilkes-Barre, left the unemployment office with a lead on a job as a home health aide and a definite choice for president.
“We need change,” said Acevedo, who will cast a vote for Obama.
Terry Kane has his own reasons for supporting Obama. The candidate’s pro-labor policies appeal to the member of Teamsters Local 401.
Kane said any union member foolish enough to vote for McCain is “crazy.” McCain will continue to look out for the interests of big business and see to it their profits increase, he said.
“My Teamsters Union is solidly behind Barack Obama and so am I,” said Kane, 47, of Plymouth.
Even though he said he has a good job with United Parcel Service, he was picking up unemployment benefits while business was slow.
Come the holiday season he would be back working full-time and then some. That is if consumers start shopping and have their purchases shipped to their homes and offices.
“I am worried sick about the economy,” Kane said.
While the workers interviewed support the Democratic senator from Illinois, one small business owner said it’s a toss-up as to who would be better for him, the country and the economy.
Rocco A. Ciavarella Jr. said which candidate takes office in January means little to him from an economic standpoint.
The 24-year-old owner of RAC Enterprises LLC of West Hazleton said that when he started his business at age 15 he got no help from the government.
“I didn’t get help from anyone,” he said matter-of-factly. He said entrepreneurs are often overlooked by presidential candidates, who cater to big business or workers.
A review of Obama and McCain’s economic plans shows some initiatives to help small businesses get off the ground and to help those already established.
Obama proposes to support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators exist throughout the region, including in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, to provide the infrastructure for entrepreneurs looking to start up companies. Obama plans to invest $250 million annually to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities.
McCain’s plan would allow first-year expensing of new equipment and technology for companies. For startups, the tax write-offs would be a boost to their bottom lines at a time every dollar counts. He said the immediate boost to capital expenditures would reward investments in cutting edge technologies and the additional investment stimulated by such expensing will drive economic growth. He also touts his offshore oil drilling plan as a way to lower utility costs for all businesses.
Obama’s plan also calls for eliminating all capital gains taxes for small business startups, while McCain’s plan keeps them static.
But the campaign speak is just rhetoric to Ciavarella.
“Anyone can say whatever they want (when campaigning). It’s what happens when they get into office that matters,” Ciavarella said. “Action speaks louder than words.”
Without saying who he’s voting for, he said neither McCain nor Obama should be viewed by small business owners as their savior.
“No matter who gets elected, none of them are going to help us. I don’t think either of them are saying ‘what can I do to help the small business owner.’ ”
McCain’s tax plans are more beneficial to business owners and entrepreneurs who achieve success; he would keep the Bush tax cuts in place while Obama proposes raising taxes for those with incomes above $250,000.
here is how to Register to vote:
Individuals can register to vote in the Nov. 4 general election through Oct. 6. Persons applying to register to vote must be a United States citizen and at least 18 years of age on or before Nov. 4, a resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which they desire to register and vote for at least 30 days before the election.
Voter registration forms are available at the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections, 20 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 207, Wilkes-Barre, or the County Annex at 123 Warren St., Hazleton. They also are available online at www.luzernecounty.org/county/departments_agencies/bureau_of_elections
Completed forms should be brought or mailed to:
Luzerne County Bureau of
Elections
Voter Registration Division
20 N. Pennsylvania Ave.,
Suite 207
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-3505
Find links to the Obama and McCain campaign Web sites at www.times
leader.com