McCain: Obama's Definition of Rich Is 'Creeping Down'

John McCain raises flags over Joe Biden's latest call for tax breaks for the middle class -- "people making under $150,000 a year."
FOXNews.com
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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John McCain speaks at a rally in Hershey, Pa., Tuesday.
John McCain accused his Democratic rivals on Tuesday of steadily downgrading their definition of the middle class in an effort to hit more voters with tax increases.
"We can't let that happen," the Republican presidential nominee told a Pennsylvania audience.
Barack Obama has consistently said that families making less than $250,000 a year will not see a tax increase under his administration. He also says those making under $200,000 will see a tax cut.
But Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, told a Scranton, Pa., TV station on Monday that Obama's tax break "should go to middle class people -- people making under $150,000 a year."
McCain, who over the past few days has warned about the "dangerous" economic consequences of allowing a Democrat in the White House to work with a Democratic majority in Congress, said Tuesday that Biden was previewing Democratic tax policies to come.
"You getting an idea of what's on their mind, huh? A little sneak peak," McCain said, pointing to Biden's comment. "It's interesting how their definition of rich has a way of creeping down. At this rate, it won't be long before Senator Obama is right back to his vote that Americans making just $42,000 a year should get a tax increase."
Obama's campaign released a statement standing by his tax plan, saying, "The McCain campaign's attacks are getting more desperate by the hour."
Spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama's plan has consistently been to make sure families earning $250,000 do not see an increase to their share of the tax burden.
The statement did not explain what Biden was referring to when he defined middle class as those making under $150,000 annually.
The "tax calculator" on Obama's Web site, which allows users to punch in their income and calculate what kind of tax cut they'd receive under an Obama administration, shows families making between $150,000 and $200,000 would get a $500 tax cut, and those making under $150,000 would get a $1,000 tax cut.
"Maybe the McCain campaign keeps lying about Obama's tax plan because with seven days left in this election, voters are rejecting McCain's plan to give billions more in tax giveaways to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans -- but nothing to more than 100 million middle-class families," Vietor said.
On a conference call Tuesday, McCain supporters and advisers suggested Obama was blurring the lines on his tax proposals.
"Now it's somewhere between $150 and $250 (thousand). We don't know what the latest iteration is," former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp said, referring to the income threshold Obama has set for a tax increase.
"It's now clear that the ... Obama-Biden ticket wants to raise taxes," McCain economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said. "They're very interested in redistribution."
In a statement, the campaign pointed to an Obama TV ad released Saturday as evidence that Obama was shifting his tax policies.
In the ad, Obama says his middle-class tax cuts will help 95 percent of working Americans, and that "If you have a job, pay taxes and make less than $200,000 a year, you'll get a tax cut."
The McCain camp alleged Obama was "bringing the threshold down" from $250,000 to $200,000, before Biden seemed to lower it to $150,000.
However, the Saturday ad was not the first time Obama talked about the $200,000 mark.
At the final presidential debate two weeks ago, he said his plan would provide "a middle-class tax cut for people making less than $200,000."
He said nobody making less than $250,000 would see their taxes increase.