OK, I was joking (mostly) when I suggested yesterday that you spend your Saturday reviewing Paul Ryan's last two tax returns.
But here's a Sunday tax activity that won't take long. You can squeeze it in before you head out to brunch.
Check out your potential 2013 tax bill via the SmartAsset.com interactive infographic that compares President Obama's and Mitt Romney's tax plans.
Click the image to use the calculator.
The financial modeling website SmartAsset built its calculator using the current information available about the Obama and Romney tax plans.
But because Romney plans to eliminate certain tax credits and preferences but doesn't provide details on which tax expenditures he would excise, the calculator makes some assumptions.
Obama calculator, too: So does the tax-plan comparison tax calculator on the Obama campaign's website.
Instead of providing a possible tax bill when you enter your income, the president's calculator tells you what your tax savings are under each candidate's tax plan.
The Obama model is based on an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. That nonpartisan tax research and policy group determined the tax increase or tax cut the average family in each income group if Romney paid for his $5 trillion tax plan by cutting tax benefits.
Again, without specifics from the GOP candidate, the TPC made some, as the Obama calculator says in its disclaimer at the bottom of the calculator page, "simplifying assumptions that may differ from the circumstances of any particular user."
The Romney camp is not pleased with the TPC report, going as far to call it "a joke."
The GOP presidential campaign could make the tax comparisons more serious (less funny?) by providing tax plan details now, not after the election as has been suggested.
And if the Romney camp does create a competing tax calculator based on its data, I'll be happy to add it to this list.
In the meantime, happy tax estimating with what we've got.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Karawyn at Pocketmint has done a detailed analysis of the SmartAsset and Obama tax plan calculators. And I mean detailed. Kudos for the hard, and sleep-consuming, work.
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Karawynn @ Pocketmint
Funny you should mention this …
I just did a detailed analysis of both calculators last week. Both have serious problems, but the SmartAsset one is egregiously bad — skewed data and other misrepresentations.
http://pocketmint.net/2012/08/obama-vs-romney-tax-calculator-cherry-picks-data-and-distorts-results/
Btw, I found your blog because I was checking out fellow FinCon attendees — though the link to your blog from the attendee list is broken (I typed it by hand). You might want to see if they’ll fix the link …
Hope to see you there!