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Nonpartisan Group Accuses McCain of Multiple Distortions of Obama’s Tax Record

The non-partisan FactCheck.org has released a report charging that John McCain has released three new ads with multiple false and misleading claims about Barack Obama’s tax proposals:

  • A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people making just $42,000 a year." That’s true for a single taxpayer, who would have seen a tax increase of $15 for the year – if the measure had been enacted. But the ad shows a woman with two children, and as a single mother, she would not have been affected unless she made more than $62,150. The increase that Obama once supported as part of a Democratic budget bill is not part of his current tax plan anyway.
  • A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on "families" making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.
  • The TV ad claims in a graphic that Obama would "raise taxes on middle class." In fact, Obama’s plan promises cuts for middle-income taxpayers and would increase rates only for persons with family incomes above $250,000 or with individual incomes above $200,000.
  • The radio ad claims Obama would increase taxes "on the sale of your home." In fact, home-sale profits of up to $500,000 per couple would continue to be exempt from capital gains taxes. Very few sales would see an increase under Obama’s proposal to raise the capital gains rate.
  • A second radio ad, in English, says, "Obama has a history of raising taxes" on middle-class Americans. But that’s false. It refers to a vote that did not actually result in a tax increase and could not have done so. These ads continue what’s become a pattern of misrepresentation by the McCain campaign about his opponent’s tax proposals.

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