What We Know About Hillary Clinton's Positions on Tax Issues
All eyes will be on former Secretary of State, and now presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton as she sets out a policy agenda during the opening months of her campaign. While in recent years Clinton has not gotten into the nitty-gritty of tax policy, she does have a long voting record on these issues as a senator from New York, as a presidential candidate in 2008 and as a major public figure. Taken together, Clinton has frequently shown a willingness to take a stand for tax fairness but has never fleshed out a clear agenda on these issues and has occasionally embraced regressive or gimmicky tax policies.
Record as Senator from New York
In a 2006 report card, Citizens for Tax Justice gave Clinton a "B" overall for her votes on five important pieces of tax legislation passed between 2000-2006. She received four "A" grades for her votes against the Bush cuts and a 2006 proposal to permanently repeal the estate tax. She received an "F" for her vote in favor of the "American Jobs Creation Act of 2004," legislation that we nicknamed the 2004 Corporate Tax Giveaway Bill.
Clinton was one of 69 Senators who voted for the disastrous American Jobs Creation Act, which included a repatriation holiday for corporations. This holiday turned out to be a debacle. The lavish tax breaks it gave to multinational corporations did not lead to any job creation and gave companies a green light to stash even more of their profits offshore to avoid taxes in hopes of receiving another holiday in the future.
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During the 2008 Democratic primary, Clinton frequently stood up, at least rhetorically, for making our tax system more progressive overall. In one particularly poignant exchange on tax fairness, Clinton noted that it's unfair for wealthy billionaires like Warren Buffett to pay a low tax rate and that "we've got to get back to having those with the most contribute to this country." Putting a bit of substance behind this rhetoric, Clinton came out strong against the carried-interest loophole and repealing tax subsidies for oil companies during the 2008 campaign.
At the time, Clinton was unwilling to take the bigger step of advocating that investment income be taxed at the same rate as labor income. When pressed during a debate as to whether she would increase capital gains taxes, Clinton said that if she raised it all she would only raise it to 20 percent, well below the rate for ordinary income.
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http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2015/04/what_we_know_about_hillary_cli.php#.VSqeafDxckh
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