Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by party; black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria.)
Chuck Baldwin, Founder and Minister of the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Mary Starrett, in an Sep. 19, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
Bob Barr, former US House Representative (R-GA), in a June 5, 2008 press release titled "Bob Barr Cites Anniversary of Proposition 13, Calls for New Tax Revolt" on his official candidate website, stated:
"We must both reduce and simplify taxes...[T]he bottom line is that taxes are too high and too complex. It's time for Americans to say that they are mad and aren't going to take it anymore..."
June 5, 2008 Bob Barr
Cynthia McKinney, former US House Representative (D-GA), issued the following statement through her Press Secretary, John Judge, in a Nov. 2, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"I support closing all tax loopholes, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners, fairly taxing corporations, denying federal subsidies to those who relocate jobs overseas, and repealing NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], CAFTA [Central America Free Trade Agreement]and other 'free trade' agreements that undermine labor and environmental rights and cause the loss of living-wage jobs." Nov. 2, 2008 Cynthia McKinney
Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, stated in an article titled "Carbon Tax" on his official candidate website (accessed Oct. 7, 2008):
"Nader/Gonzalez proposes a straightforward carbon tax—set to annual benchmarks to bring, with the expansion of solar energy, US emissions to at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050." Oct. 7, 2008 Ralph Nader
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), in a May 11, 2008 interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Late Edition, stated:
"[Barack] Obama: I will raise CEO [Chief Executive Officer] taxes. There is no doubt about it...If you are a CEO in this country, you will probably pay more taxes. They won't be prohibitively high. They're -- you're going to be paying roughly what you paid in the '90s, when CEOs were doing just fine...I will institute a middle-class tax cut. So, if you're making $75,000, if you're making $50,000 a year, you will see an extra $1,000 a year offsetting on your payroll tax.
[Wolf] Blitzer: Define middle class.
Obama: Well, look, I think that the definitions are always a little bit rough, but let's -- let's just take it this way. If you're making $100,000 a year or less, then you're pretty solidly middle class, and you deserve relief right now, as opposed to paying higher taxes. On the other hand, if you're making more than $100,000, and certainly if you're making more than $200,000 to $250,000, then you're doing pretty well."
May 11, 2008 Barack Obama
INACTIVE CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear
below in black and white and in alphabetical order by party.)