Taxation and you: Obama vs. McCain

The numbers are finally in! John McCain’s Double Talk Express has been hitting Barack Obama hard at every opportunity spreading all kinds of misinformation about his tax plan. According to McCain, Obama’s tax plan will mean more taxes for you. By “you,” either McCain is mistaking his audience for wealthy businessmen, or he is outright lying. Either way, the numbers are in, and the right-wing “maverick” has gone down hard over the facts.

According to CNN, using statistics from the Tax Policy Center, here’s how things break down for the two tax plans.

MCCAIN OBAMA
Income Avg. tax bill Avg. tax bill
Over $2.9M -$269,364 +$701,885
$603K and up -$45,361 +$115,974
$227K-$603K -$7,871 +$12
$161K-$227K -$4,380 -$2,789
$112K-$161K -$2,614 -$2,204
$66K-$112K -$1,009 -$1,290
$38K-$66K -$319 -$1,042
$19K-$38K -$113 -$892
Under $19K -$19 -$567

I don’t think any of us require economics degrees to make sense out of this information. Simply put, if you’re making less than $112,000 a year (that’s you and me … or at least me), you will see your taxes go down //significantly more// under Barack Obama’s plan than John McCain’s.
Perhaps McCain thinks giving tax breaks to the rich will stimulate the economy in a trickle-down fashion, similar to the policies of George W. Bush. Judging by our recession, do we seriously want to give such policies another four years?
McCain’s plan will also involve increasing the federal deficit by about roughly $4.5 trillion, while Obama’s plan would only increase the deficit by about $3.3 trillion. While Obama’s plan is still an increase, it’s smaller and will assist working class families much more than McCain’s plan.

Obama’s program also calls for improving health care and education — two sectors in desperate need of repair — while pulling resources out of Iraq, lifting the massive financial burden it has placed on our country. McCain’s economics only favor the super-rich who are making health care so expensive, while calling for vouchers in order to siphon state funds from public to private schools, not to mention his declaration that we should remain in Iraq for another century if necessary.

Given these numbers, we establish one critical fact. Obama’s plan not only lowers the tax burden for us working folks and our families, but to puts us in far less debt than McCain, all while spending the money far more wisely than McCain! If there was ever a clearer choice as to who would better represent the interests of American workers, that time is now.
— Martin Droll, a student in Philadelphia