(NB: The online article requires a subscription. I'll summarize the rest as best as I can.)
The rest of the article goes on to say that the study concludes McCain's tax plan favors the wealthy (big surprise there), while Obama's favors the middle class. There are questions about how the campaigns will pay for the tax cuts -- Obama says he'll end Bush's tax cuts, tax hedge fund managers, and raise the tax on capital gains and divident incomes, while McCain says he'll cut extra spending and roll back oil company tax breaks -- but there's no as-yet quantitative analysis of how that'll play out.McCain's Tax Plan Favors Wealthiest, Analysis Says
By Deborah Solomon
Word Count: 951
Both John McCain and Barack Obama promise to cut taxes for the majority of Americans. But an Obama administration would redistribute income toward lower- and middle-class households, while a McCain White House would steer the bulk of the benefits to the wealthiest families, according to a nonpartisan analysis of the still-evolving tax plans of the presidential candidates.
Both plans risk causing more economic damage than improvement, according to the detailed study by the Washington-based Tax Policy Center. While some of Sen. McCain's tax cuts could lift economic activity, the "adverse effects of the resulting increased deficits may make the net ...
The article mentions that Obama is projected to get 18.4% of GDP as tax, while McCain is projected to get 17.8% of GDP as tax revenue. It also projects that the debt will increase by $3.3 trillion under Obama and $4.5 trillion under McCain.
Numbers:
Code: Select all
Average change in annual taxes under the presidential candidates' plans measured against current tax law. (Bush Tax Cuts expire in 2010)
2009 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Income Change in After-Tax Income Change in After-Tax Income
Obama McCain Obama McCain
$111,646+ -2% 3% 1.5% 6.4%
$66,355-
$111,646 1.8% 1.4% 4.4% 4.1%
$37,596-
$66,355 2.4% 0.7% 4.6% 3.1%
$18,982-
$37,595 3.6% 0.5% 5.9% 2.8%
$0-18,592 5.5% 0.2% 6.2% 0.9%
Source: WSJ, who used the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
Here's an indicator of how large the gap between wealthy and poor is: McCain's tax cut, on average, increases after-tax income by 2%. Obama's, on average, increases after-tax income by 0.3%. Even though Obama favors middle-and lower-income voters, so much income is concentrated in the stratospherically wealthy, they skew the averages.
Here is the study the article's talking about.
