AFL-CIO Falsely Attacks McCain

In fact, McCain says he's counting on reduced spending for military operations to help him balance the federal budget. In his "Jobs for America" plan released July 9, the McCain campaign said:

McCain campaign: The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction.

We can't predict whether McCain, or for that matter, Obama, will actually be able to cut spending in Iraq. But it's simply wrong to say McCain "wants" to continue spending at the current level, when he's said he wants to reduce it.

Update, July 11: The McCain campaign has escalated its use of the false $32,000 claim. The campaign and the RNC have aired a radio ad in Virginia and Ohio in which a teacher repeats the false claim, saying: "Barack Obama promises to cut taxes, but he voted to raise taxes on folks earning as little as $32,000." Also, in a July 11 e-mail to reporters, McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin defended the figure:

*Holtz-Eakin*: In the past three days, much has been written about Barack Obama's vote in favor of a budget resolution that raises income tax rates by three percentage points for 25, 28 and 33 percent tax brackets. The lowest of these brackets begins at an income level of $31,850.

What Holtz-Eakin fails to say anywhere in his message, however, is that he is referring to /taxable/ income, and not to total income. As we already noted, an unmarried taxpayer with no dependents would need to have an income of at least $41,500 to reach the 25 percent bracket in 2008. A couple would have to earn at least $83,000. In 2008, the cutoff for the 25 percent bracket was $32,500 (not $31,850 as the McCain campaign continues to claim) in taxable income – or income after deductions and exclusions.

Holtz-Eakin is a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, so we were surprised to see him misstate such a basic figure. But he does. The $31,850 number he cites was for income earned /last/ year, 2007, as the Internal Revenue Service notes on its Web site. The IRS announced last October that the tax brackets for /this/ year would be widened, as they are
every year, to adjust for inflation. For 2008, the 25 percent bracket begins at $32,550 of taxable income, as the IRS notes in this procedural manual.

Furthermore, Obama's vote was on a budget bill for 2009, at which time the bracket will start at an even higher level.

Holtz-Eakin says that Obama's "words on the campaign trail do not match the actions he has taken. He tells the American people one thing but has a record that is quite different." The McCain campaign is surely entitled to compare Obama's voting record with his campaign promises. But the fact is, Obama didn't vote for raising taxes on persons making $32,000. The resolution could not have affected any single person making less than $41,500 in total income, and no married couple making less than $83,000.

We reiterate: McCain's $32,000 figure is phony.

Reprinted with permission from Factcheck.org.

Correction, July 14: Our article originally said that McCain's 2005 and 2006 votes against Democratic proposals to increase veterans' funding preceded his votes for legislation to increase funding by less. McCain's votes for the alternative legislation came first. We have changed the story to reflect this.