Doing The Math On Candidates' Tax Plans
CBS News asked the non-partisan Tax Policy Center to calculate what individuals' tax burdens would be under each of Barack Obama and John McCain's proposed plans.
The first example family had a modest income of $35,000 a year. Under the current law, that family gets a tax credit - a check from the government - of $2,765, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
Obama and McCain would give them even more: $1,400 more from Obama and $480 more from McCain.
The next family of four made $50,000, the median income. Half the country's tax filers make that much or less.
Right now their 2009 tax bill was slated to be about $772.
But McCain would double the tax deduction for children, dropping their bill to $51. Obama promises a new worker tax credit, which would actually wipe out their bill, leaving them with a refund for $232.
At $150,000, Obama and McCain's tax bills are nearly identical. Right now that family's bill is $18,370.
Obama would shrink it by about $1,000; McCain, by $1,200.
At $200,000, a family's tax bill would stay the same under both candidates. But at the top of the ladder, $250,000, things change.
Not under McCain, who continues to bill that family just more than $42,000. But this is where Obama's tax increase kicks in - in this case, by $600.
"The bottom line is neither man pays for his tax cuts," said Robertson Williams of the Tax Policy Center. "By our estimates, Sen. Obama's plan would increase the federal deficit by about $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Sen. McCain would be even worse - about $5 trillion."
Which suggests that unlike our four families, neither candidate is focused on balancing his budget - yet.
