
What would happen to your money under Mitt Romney and President Obama's taxes and investment plans? Christine Romans dives 'in depth' into both of their platforms to break it down for us.
In short: Obama wants to tax the rich more.
"I'm not proposing anything radical here," President Obama says. "I just believe that anybody making over $250,000 dollars a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under Bill Clinton."
Romney wants to cut income taxes for everyone but hasn't revealed almost any details about how he plans to pay for those cuts. "I will not raise taxes on the American people, on middle income Americans," he says. "We're going to make sure Americans have the money to pay their bills"
Here's what we do know: what would happen to income taxes. Romney wants to cut income taxes by 20% for every income level and Obama wants to split up the higher tax brackets and tax the rich more.
The big question is, what would happen to some big deductions like carried interest, child tax credit and mortgage interest deduction? We just don't know what Romney has planned for those and they're important to the middle class.
When it comes to investments, the differences in the plans comes again with taxes on the rich. High income earners making $200,000 a year or more – their capital gains and dividends are currently taxed at 15%. Romney wants to keep it that way but President Obama wants to increase taxes on capital gains to 20%, and dividends as high as 39.6%.
We don't know how this will be paid for.
Romney's running mate Rep. Paul Ryan addressed this over the weekend, saying they'll be looking at closing loopholes, but "not necessarily what loopholes go, but who gets them. High income earners use most of the loopholes. That means they can shelter their income from taxation. ​But if you take those loopholes, those tax shelters away from high income earners, more of their income is subject to taxation. And that allows us to lower tax rates on everybody - small businesses, families, economic growth."
But again, no more details about which loopholes would be closed.
We wanted to do a comparison of what would happen to the median income family making $50,000 a year. But you just can't do it given the information available for Romney's plan for taxes.
We actually asked the Romney campaign if they have done an analysis of what would happen to the average family and they said they have not done that.
The official we spoke to, who is involved in setting economic policy but did not want to be named, says anyone who says Romney wants to get rid of the child tax credit is incorrect. But this official would not explain what Romney would do with that or any other credits for that matter.

The one thing you need to know about your money today: Home affordability is better than it has been in 40 years.
Housing starts in April rose and home builder confidence is at a five-year high. These are green shoots in the burned-out landscape of the housing market.
After slicing 25% off the value of the average home, the relentless decline in home prices appears to be slowing. Mortgage rates are at record lows again. The average 30-year home loans are at 3.83%. Of course, a true recovery depends on whether more people can qualify for loans and get jobs. Without those two factors, the "bottom" in housing will be prolonged and rough. But for people on offense, it looks good.
Find out how much house you can afford. Here is a CNNMoney calculator to help you decide.
Watch Christine's "One Thing You Need To Know" segments weekdays on "Early Start" starting at 5am Eastern.

