2008 first presidential debate, at Ole Miss: on Tax Reform

Barack Obama: Yes, earmarks are abused, but small compared to tax cuts

OBAMA: McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused, which is why I suspended any requests for my home state, whether it was for senior centers or what have you, until we cleaned it up. He’s also right that oftentimes lobbyists and special interests are the ones that are introducing these kinds of requests, although that wasn’t the case with me. Let’s be clear: earmarks account for $18 billion in last year’s budget. McCain is proposing $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations & individuals in the country. Now $18 billion is important; but $300 billion is really important. In his tax plan, you woul have CEOs of Fortune 500 companies getting an average of $700,000 in reduced taxes, while leaving 100 million Americans out. So my attitude is we’ve got to grow the economy from the bottom up. What I’ve called for is a tax cut for 95% of working families

Barack Obama: No $300 billion on tax cuts for those who don’t need them

A: There is no doubt that it’s going to affect our budgets. There is no doubt about it. Even if we get all $700 billion back, let’s assume the markets recover; we’re holding assets long enough that eventually taxpayers get it back. In the short term, there’s an outlay. We may not see that money for a while. Because the economy is slowing down, we can also expect less tax revenue. So there’s no doubt that as president, I’m going to have to make some tough decisions. We’ve got to know what our values are and who we’re fighting for and what our priorities are. If we are spending $300 billion on tax cuts for people who don’t need them and weren’t even asking for them and we are leaving out health care, which is crushing on people all across the country, then we have made a bad decision, and I want to make sure we’re not shortchanging our long-term priorities.

Barack Obama: FactCheck: Voted for non-binding tax increase on $42K income

Yes, as we’ve said before, Obama did in fact vote for a budget resolution that called for highe federal income tax rates on a single, non-homeowner who earned as little as $42,000 per year. A couple filing jointly, however, would have had to earn at least $83,000 per year to be affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.

The resolution actually would not have altered taxes without additional legislation. It called generally for allowing most of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts to expire. McCain is referring to the provision that would have allowed the 25% tax bracket to return to 28%. The tax plan Obama now proposes, however, would not raise the rate on that tax bracket.

John McCain: Worst thing in bad economic climate is to raise taxes

McCAIN: Obama didn’t mention that along with his tax cuts he is also proposing some $800 billion in new spending on new programs. That’s the fundamental difference between myself and Obama. I want to cut spending. I want to keep taxes low. The worst thing we could do in this economic climate is to raise people’s taxes.