Question 1: The McMansion Tax Break
Taxpayers can deduct interest on loans of up to $1 million used to buy one or two personal residences.

Ask the Candidate: Would you limit the home mortgage interest deduction so that it subsidizes the purchase of one basic home, and would you redirect some of the tax savings to help qualified renters purchase a basic home?

Question 2: The Inequitable Home Equity Break
Congress offers certain homeowners a preferential deduction for consumer loans.

Ask the Candidate: Would you eliminate the deduction for interest on up to $100,000 of consumer loans (called “home equity loans”) that benefits only homeowners who itemize?

Question 3: Poorest Families, Poorest Child Care
Tax credits help working parents who owe taxes pay for child
care costs.

Ask the Candidate: Would you reform the child care credit so that it helps low- and moderate-income working parents who don’t owe taxes and can least afford their child care costs?

Question 4: Social Security’s Insecurity
The Social Security Trust Fund is likely to be bankrupt by about
2042. Yet the highest-paid Americans don’t pay Social Security taxes on all of their wages.

Ask the Candidate: Why not fix most of Social Security’s long-term solvency problem by making Social Security taxes apply to all levels of wages?

Question 5: A Sick Policy on Health Insurance
An employee’s health insurance premiums paid at work are exempt from income tax—no matter how deluxe a policy the taxpayer
chooses.

Ask the Candidate: Should the tax exemption for an employee’s health insurance premium paid at work be limited to a premium for a basic policy, and would you deny the tax break to managers if their employers paid more of their premiums than they paid for rank-and-file workers?

Question 6: The Oh-So-Golden-Years Pension Break
Top managers not only get bigger pensions, they also get enormous tax breaks on their employers’ pension contributions.

Ask the Candidate: Would you stop giving tax breaks for much higher pension contributions for highly paid employees than for rank-and-file employees?

Question 7: The Great Pension Robbery
Forfeiture rules can deprive employees of pension accounts crucial to their long-term security.

Ask the Candidate: Should Congress prohibit pension plans from depriving employees of their pensions after they have been employed for at least three years?

Question 8: Education Out of Reach
Congress helps students pay for the costs of college by giving them, or their parents, tuition tax credits that reduce their taxes.

Ask the Candidate: Would you reform the tax credits for college tuition to help households who don’t owe income taxes but often need the assistance most?

Question 9: Single and Paying for It
A single person who doesn’t earn enough to reach the poverty level may still owe income taxes.

Ask the Candidate: Why shouldn’t Congress do for single persons what it does for a family of four—exempt them from income tax until their income rises well above the poverty level?

Question 10: Medicare’s Drift Toward Insolvency
By 2026, Medicare is unlikely to be able to pay all of its hospital and nursing home bills.

Ask the Candidate: How would you restore the long-term solvency of Medicare’s hospital insurance program?

A Bonus: Five Common Myths and Misunderstandings

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