McCain's Tax Plan Aids Wealthy, Says Group

By Perry Bacon Jr.
A detailed analysis of the candidates' tax plans confirms one of Barack Obama's top arguments against John McCain: the Arizona senator's proposals would offer substantial benefits to wealthy Americans.

An analysis of both campaigns proposals by the Washington-based, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that for people with incomes between $66,354 and $111,645, Obama's proposals would cut their taxes by more than $1000, compared to around $300 under McCain's plan. But for Americans with incomes above $603,402, Obama would raise their taxes dramatically, by more than $115,000 a year, while McCain would cut them by $45,000.

"The Obama tax plan would make the tax system significantly more progressive by providing large tax breaks to those at the bottom of the income scale and raising taxes significantly on upper-income earners," the group concludes. "The McCain tax plan would make the tax system more regressive.... It would do so by providing relatively little tax relief to those at the bottom of the income scale while providing huge tax cuts to households at the very top of the income distribution."

McCain argues that such high taxes on the wealthy will slow economic growth. And the report also gives credence to another of McCain's arguments about Obama's plan, it will raise taxes on seniors. Because seniors are more reliant on gains from investments and capital gains, which Obama would increase, the group estimates Obama would raise taxes on more than ten million seniors.

Obama has proposed exempting seniors who make less than $50,000 a year from paying taxes, an idea the Tax Policy Center said "is poorly designed according to its current description and creates inequity between older and younger taxpayers with the same income."

The group is skeptical about both candidates' ideas about closing the deficit, suggesting McCain has not been detailed in which programs he will cut, while Obama might be overestimating how much can be gained by combating loopholes in the tax code that allow corporations to reduce their tax burdens.