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Saturday, November 21, 
11:22 pm

Grant Thornton's Mel Schwartz on Obama's tax outlook

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Mel Schwartz, a senior partner at Grant Thornton LLP, shared his thoughts on what kind of tax situation dealmakers should expect to see in 2009 and beyond at The Deal's M&A Outlook 2009 conference. "Taxes having been such a vocal part of the presidential campaign was both good and bad," Schwartz commented.

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111208_panel2a.jpg"It will be much easier for the Democratic Congress to move the changes they advocated in the new session next year," he continued. "Up in the air is whether the rate on dividends and the top incomes will go back up to where they were in 2001. By no means is that certain to happen early, but increases are going to be on the table, and they will be on the table early in the year. It seems to be that they will happen eventually, but a hard and fast date is difficult to determine at this date.

"The Obama people have made it clear they are interested in exploring the big issues in a different way than we've seen them explored over the last eight years," Schwartz commented. "Things like a favorable tax rate for return on capital as opposed to that of labor is something to look for changes in.   

"With regard to tax benefits, a consciousness of what tax rules do for employment is going to be a much bigger
consideration for this administration," he said. "The question of how tax affects domestic employment, and not just competitiveness, is going to be a much bigger consideration for an Obama administration." - George White

See all M&A Outlook 2009 posts




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