Candidates on Saving and Working

We believe workers should be provided with financial incentives to save, should have access to effective retirement plans, and should be able to keep working and contributing to society regardless of age.

The bolded candidate is listed first, then the statement we identified for the candidate. In some cases, we may not have identified a statement for the Divided We Fail principle listed above.

Democrats

Hillary Clinton

"I'm announcing my plan today to provide every single American with an easy, automatic opportunity to save for future through an account I'm calling an American Retirement Account. These accounts will take the best of the 401(k) plans and make them available to every working family…To give a strong incentive for saving, my plan will offer working and middle-class families generous matching tax cuts. For families making up to $60,000 a year, the government will match dollar for dollar the first $1,000 you save. For families making between $60,000 and $100,000, the plan will provide a 50 percent match…That means tens of millions of middle-class families will be eligible for matching tax cuts of up to $500 and $1,000 to help them build a nest egg."
(Campaign website, October 9, 2007, http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=3640)

Barack Obama

Secure Hard-Earned Pensions: Obama will insist that companies keep the promises they make to employees. Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000: For many seniors, this will eliminate the need to file taxes…Obama supports automatic enrollment in IRAs and improving the Saver's Tax Credit so more households can save for retirement…Expand programs like Senior Corps to provide more volunteer opportunities for older Americans to serve…Some employers refuse to hire older workers or push them to retire. Obama supports fighting job discrimination for aging employees. He supports strengthening the Age Discrimination in Employment Act…
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/seniors/
http://www.barackobama.com/2007/09/21/obama_..._t.php
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/seniorsFactSheet.pdf

Republicans

Mike Huckabee

"I'm a strong advocate of the 'Fair Tax…' It has a way of bringing about a tax code that is fair, flat, finite and family-friendly…It would be especially helpful to empower seniors and frankly people at the low end of the economic spectrum, because the provision of the 'prebate.' This could provide for the first time, since the instigation of the income tax, an opportunity where we don't penalize people for their productivity. But we reward them for their savings, we reward them for dividends, for capital gains, and allow them to make those without knowing that the government is going to come and essentially make them sorry they were ever prudent with their financial arrangements." (AARP Republican Candidate Forum, Sioux City, Iowa, October 25, 2007)

John McCain

"To boost savings and retirement security, obviously, health savings accounts are important, 401k's are important, reform of the entire tax code. One of the most compelling issues outside of health care itself, but is directly connected to it, is the complexity and incredible Byzantine tax code that we have adopted over the years… If we would have a simpler, fairer tax code, and one that provides incentives for wellness and fitness, one that, frankly, one of the areas that would need to be fixed is our medical malpractice situation where doctors then don't practice defensive medicine, where we have incentives for savings across the board…" (AARP Republican Candidate Forum, Sioux City, Iowa, October 25, 2007)

Ron Paul

"American taxpayers know that the best way for them to save for their retirement is to invest their pre-tax dollars in private pensions and retirement accounts. Taxpayers, rather than the federal government, should be the stewards of their own hard-earned retirement savings…. We can encourage retirement saving simply by allowing employees to put more of their paychecks into IRAs and pension funds, instead of sending taxes to the federal government."
("Lower Taxes Encourage Saving for Retirement," Texas Straight Talk, July 24, 2000)

Mitt Romney

"I believe people should be allowed to earn interest dividends and capital gains, up to a certain amount per year, tax-free and without restrictions on how or when their savings or investments are spent. As an example, let's take the number of 5,000 bucks…What I'd say is people ought to be able to save annually or to be able to receive income annually, in capital gains, dividends in interest on 5,000 bucks and not have to pay any taxes on it at all, and not have to worry where that investment got spent. This would help the middle class to be able to invest and save. It also would allow them to spend their savings the way that Americans like to spend their savings, - any way they want."
(Speech to The Detroit Economic Club, February 7, 2007) http://www.mittromney.com/News/Speeches/DEC_Speech

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