Better, But Still Deceptive
We are pleased to see that in this ad McCain has corrected one earlier misrepresentation. He and others in his campaign have been saying for weeks that Obama once voted for a Democratic budget bill that McCain falsely claimed would raise taxes on persons making as little as $32,000 a year. We challenged that false claim in an article posted July 8. In this ad, McCain says Obama voted to raise taxes on persons making "just $42,000 a year," which is true for some but not all. Yet the ad still misleads.

A Misleading Picture
The measure Obama supported contained a provision – which is not part of his current tax proposals – that would have increased the rate paid by those who have taxable income high enough to fall into the 25 percent tax bracket. The 25 percent rate would have increased to 28 percent, as it was before the Bush tax cuts. The effect would have been to increase taxes for a single taxpayer with as little as $32,550 in taxable income in 2008, after all deductions and exclusions from total annual earnings.

But that works out to be $41,500 a year in total income for a single taxpayer with no dependents who takes the standard deduction and exemption allowed by the tax code. So it's true that a single taxpayer making $42,000 this year would see an income tax increase – of $15. That assumes the provision Obama voted for had been enacted and assumes further that the taxpayer did not qualify for more than the standard deduction.

But the McCain ad misleads with a strong visual message. The $42,000 claim is true for a lone taxpayer, but it is not true for the woman who is pictured in the ad while the announcer is speaking. She's reading to two small children, apparently her own. If she is supposed to be a single mother of two, then she would be able to make as much as $62,150 in total income in 2008 without being affected by the measure Obama once supported. She would file as a "head of household" with more generous tax brackets and standard deductions than for a single filer, and she would also qualify for exemptions for herself and her two children. (She would also qualify for a $1,000 credit for each child, since they both are obviously under 17, but this would be true whether or not the 25 percent bracket had been increased to 28 percent.)

Furthermore, if viewers are to believe that the woman in McCain's ad is married and files taxes jointly with her husband, the couple could make as much as $90,000 this year without being affected. And anyway, as noted earlier, Obama isn't proposing to implement any such increase in the 25 percent bracket.

(Tax tables for 2008 can be found here, including the tax brackets, exemptions and exclusions that apply to income earned this year.)

The TV ad also says that Obama "promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family." This statement is simply not true for the vast majority of viewers who will see it. Obama, in fact, promises to deliver a $1,000 tax cut for families making up to $150,000 a year, and he says he would increase income tax rates, capital gains tax rates and taxes on dividends only for those with family incomes over $250,000 a year, or for single taxpayers making over $200,000.

Tax Deception en Español
McCain also released a 60-second, Spanish-language radio ad Aug. 8 with additional deceptions, claiming that Obama would raise taxes on listeners' income, savings and home sales, and falsely claiming that he had voted to increase taxes on "families" making $42,000 a year.

John McCain 2008 Radio Ad: "Are You Ready For Obama?"
(English translation supplied by McCain campaign)

Announcer: With the economy as bad as it is, gas prices going up, home foreclosures, and jobs being lost, we need to be careful about who we pick as our next president.

No doubt, Barack Obama is a popular figure, a celebrity who says the right thing. But will he do the right thing?

So here's the question you need to ask yourself, in these tough economic times, are you ready for a president who voted for higher income taxes on working families making $42,000 a year?

Are you ready for Barack Obama, for his tax plans that will hurt senior citizens?

Are you ready for the higher taxes on income, savings and the sale of your home that Barack Obama promises?

It's not that you're not ready. Barack Obama is not ready yet. Because when it comes to the economy, experience matters, and he just doesn't have it.

He says he'll give you change, but that's what he'll leave you with.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

The English-language translation supplied by the McCain campaign says Obama voted for higher taxes on "working families" making $42,000 a year. (In Spanish, it says Obama "voto para aumentarle los impuestos a las familias que ganan 42,000 dolares al año.) The Spanish for "working" does not actually appear in the ad, but either way the claim is false.