The Kerry campaign released a new tax ad on Monday. To view the ad, see here. Here is the text of the ad:

John Kerry: Here’s the truth about taxes. After nearly four years under George Bush, the middle class is paying the bigger share of the America’s tax burden and the wealthiest are paying less. It’s wrong. We need to cut taxes on the middle class, not raise them. We also need to get healthcare costs under control and lower our nation’s deficit. I don’t believe the wealthy need another tax cut. I believe ordinary Americans need someone who will fight for them. I’m John Kerry and I approved this message.

FactCheck.org has issued a detailed criticism of the ad, calling it “a good example of how facts that are literally true can be used selectively to create a misleading picture”:

A Kerry ad that claims to tell “the truth on taxes” falls short of doing so. It says that “after nearly four years under George Bush, the middle class is paying a bigger share of American’s tax burden and the wealthiest are paying less.”

That’s true as far as it goes. However, the total federal tax burden on all income groups has been reduced, just more for some than for others. It’s true that the top 20% of income earners now pay a smaller share of the reduced tax burden, but so do the bottom 40% of earners.

Those in the middle 20% now pay an average of 14.5% of their income for all federal taxes, a reduction 1.9 percentage points as a result of the Bush cuts. That middle group pays 10.5% of the reduced overall federal tax burden. That share has gone up as the Kerry ad says — by 2/10ths of one percentage point….

[T]he fact is, all income groups are paying a lowered tax burden this year under the Bush cuts, the “middle class” included.