REPORT THE IMPACT OF THE OBAMA ECONOMIC PLAN FOR MICHIGAN

REPORT: THE IMPACT OF THE OBAMA ECONOMIC PLAN FOR MICHIGAN REPORT: THE IMPACT OF THE OBAMA ECONOMIC PLAN FOR MICHIGAN Barack Obama believes that every American family deserves the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead in our economy – to get an education, build a nest egg and provide a better life for their children. As the economy has changed American families are being left on their own to navigate an increasingly complex and challenging economic situation. A successful economy is one that grows and allows American families to achieve their aspirations – like building up wealth, owning a home, or sending a child to college. In summary, the Obama plan will: 1. Provide emergency energy rebate checks of $500 per worker, or $1,000 per working family, to 5.2 million Michigan workers. Offer a new “Making Work Pay” permanent annual Tax Cut of Up to $500 per Person, or $1000 Per working Family, to 5.2 million workers in Michigan. Allocate $1.67 billion in direct assistance for the state of Michigan under Obama’s Emergency Economic Plan. Provide 291,000 more Michigan seniors with a tax cut by eliminating income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year. Offer quality, affordable health care to the 1,151,000 people in Michigan who are uninsured. Give 509,000 low-wage workers in Michigan a raise of up to $4,700 per year, by Increasing the Minimum Wage to $9.50 by 2011. Increase Retirement Savings Opportunities for the 71 Million Working Americans Who Lack an Employer Retirement Account, by providing them with a new Automatic Workplace Pension and providing a $500 matching tax credit for their savings. Create 67,000 jobs in Michigan over the next 10 years through Obama’s new National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to Benefit at Least 700,000 Working Families and Help Ensure That Low-Wage Working Parents Are Not Forced to Raise Their Children in Poverty. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. PAID FOR BY THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE; NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE PRINTED IN HOUSE 2 THE IMPACT OF NINE KEY OBAMA ECONOMIC POLICIES ON MICHIGAN Emergency Energy Rebate Checks for 5.2 Million Michigan Workers. The housing crisis is deepening and energy and food prices are soaring. Barack Obama has advocated for an Emergency Economic Plan to jumpstart the economy. This will include providing $1,000 emergency energy rebates, which would be delivered to working families immediately and could be used to offset the cost of spiking energy and food prices. Over a five year period, these rebates would be paid for by a tax on a portion of the excess profits of oil companies. Up to 95 percent of working families will receive $1000, while a working individual would receive $500. • Under the Obama plan, 5.2 million Michigan workers would get rebate checks. A New Tax Cut to 5.2 Million Michigan Workers Barack Obama has proposed a broad middle class tax cut to help relieve the financial burden on working Michigan families, who have seen their real incomes decline by $5,500 since President Bush entered office, while the cost of energy, food and health care have skyrocketed. His new “Making Work Pay” tax credit will provide up to $500 per person, or $1000 per working family in direct tax relief. • • The Obama “Making Work Pay” credit will directly benefit the vast majority of Michigan workers – 5.2 million in all. By contrast, John McCain’s tax cut would completely leave out 3,454,000 Michigan households – 72 percent of all households in Michigan. $1.67 Billion In Direct Assistance For The State of Michigan As part of his Emergency Economic Plan, Obama has called for an additional $50 billion in stimulus, with funding for state and local government services and for fast-tracked infrastructure projects. Obama’s stimulus plan goes hand in hand with the investments in infrastructure and green jobs that he has proposed as part of his longer-term economic agenda. • Under the Obama plan, Michigan would receive $1,669,615,000 in direct assistance. PAID FOR BY THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE; NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE PRINTED IN HOUSE 3 Eliminating Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000. Since the New Deal, we’ve had a basic agreement in America: If you work hard and pay into the system, you’ve earned the right to a secure retirement. But too many seniors aren’t getting that security, even though they’ve held up their end of the bargain. Lower and middle income seniors are struggling as their expenses on health and energy skyrocket while their incomes do not keep pace. This burden has grown since 1993, when taxes on Social Security benefits were raised. Millions of seniors saw their net benefit go down. Seniors also had to take on the added strain – and sometimes cost – of filing a complicated tax return. After going through complicated calculations, many seniors find that they owe little or no tax, meaning all of the hassle was for naught. • The Obama plan will completely eliminate income taxes for seniors in Michigan who make less than $50,000. This will provide an immediate tax cut averaging $1,400 per year a year for 930,000 Michigan seniors and relieve 291,000 more of the burden of filing tax returns - eliminating the need to hire a tax preparer and resulting in even larger savings. John McCain’s only middle class tax cut, on the other hand, would completely leave out 1,246,000 seniors in Michigan. • Universal Health Care Coverage and Lower Health Costs Under Obama’s plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down. If you don’t like your health insurance, or you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.Obama’s plan will provide affordable, quality and portable health coverage for all Americans. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by covering the uninsured; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters. • Under the Obama plan, the 1,151,000 people in Michigan who are uninsured will have access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage. PAID FOR BY THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE; NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE PRINTED IN HOUSE 4 Increase in the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, and index it to inflation after that. Since 2000, nearly 5 million Americans have fallen into poverty. Millions more live just above the poverty line and struggle every day to provide for their families. Barack Obama believes that everyone who works deserves a chance to move out of poverty and into the middle class. He has an aggressive plan to combat poverty, reward work and ensure that low-income families have the tools they need to succeed. Obama will raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011 and index it to inflation after that. • In Michigan, 509,000 low wage workers would get a raise of up to $4,700 per year under the Obama plan. Increased Retirement Savings Opportunities for 71 Million Working Americans Barack Obama believes the current workplace pension system is out-of-date with the realities of the modern workforce for working women. In 2006, 71 million working Americans lacked any employer sponsored retirement plan. Obama’s Automatic Workplace Pension program will offer hardworking Americans left out of the retirement savings system an easy, automatic and productive way to build wealth for retirement. Under this plan, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan will be required to automatically enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account (employees will retain the option of opting-out). When employees change jobs, their savings will be automatically rolled over into the new employer’s system to ensure continued savings. In addition, Senator Obama’s plan will match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and ensure that parents continue to receive this new match even if they leave the workforce to take time to raise their children. The savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts by using the account information listed on IRS tax filings. Investing in Infrastructure The Obama Administration will invest $60 billion over 10 years in a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation, creating up to two million new jobs per year and stimulate $35 billion per year in new economic activity. • Over the next 10 years, the Obama plan will create 67,000 jobs in Michigan through Obama’s new National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank. PAID FOR BY THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE; NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE PRINTED IN HOUSE 5 Expanded EITC Benefits to Ensure Working Families Don’t Have to Raise Their Children in Poverty Over 700,000 working families in Michigan receive the Earned Income Tax Credit. Barack Obama has proposed an aggressive expansion of the EITC, which President Reagan once called “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.” • His plan will increase the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increase the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, and reduce the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low income families. In addition, the Obama plan will tackle the acute problem of poverty among larger families. Today, the poverty rate for families with three more children is twice the rate as that for smaller families. A working family with three children earning minimum wage today falls below the poverty line even after receiving the current EITC, Food Stamps and the additional Child Credit. Senator Obama’s EITC expansion will lift that family out of poverty. • PAID FOR BY THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CAMPAIGN FOR CHANGE; NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEE PRINTED IN HOUSE 6