The Candidates on the Issues

The Basics
•Raise taxes on businesses?
•Tax cuts for the middle class?
•Increase the capital gains tax?

McCain
•Would cut corporate tax rate to 25%, from 35%
•Gives an estimated $325 tax break to the middle 20% of taxpayers, who make $37,600 to $66,400
•Cuts long-term capital gains tax to 7.5% in 2009 and 2010

Obama
•Calls for boosting taxes on some multinationals that outsource abroad •Gives an estimated $1,118 tax break to the middle 20% of taxpayers, who make $37,600 to $66,400 •Raises the maximum capital gains tax to 20%, from 15%, for families earning more than $250,000

The Big Question:
Should the U.S. increase income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans?

MCCAIN

NO: Raising income taxes, investment taxes and business taxes during an economic downturn will hurt all Americans, even if they are not the ones directly paying the taxes. We should cut investment and business taxes, and we should offer incentives for businesses to engage in new research and development. We should offer tax relief to middle-class families. And we must resist the seductive call to raise taxes on those who have the resources to invest in the American economy and get us back on track.

OBAMA

YES: To finance middle-class tax cuts and other priorities like health care, I will ask families making more than $250,000 per year to give back part of their Bush tax cut. But under my plan, every family, regardless of their income, will pay lower tax rates than they would have in the 1990s. I will cut taxes for 95% of workers and their families. My plan offers three times the tax cut for middle-class families as the McCain plan. I will also end tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas and use that money to cut taxes for small businesses and companies that create jobs in America.