Obama Calculator Touts Tax Cuts For Middle Class

Barack Obama’s campaign has a new tax calculator on its website that aims to show how middle-class Americans would pay fewer income taxes under the Democrat’s proposals than under John McCain’s.

The campaign hopes the calculator, launched Tuesday, reinforces Obama’s tax message. Obama has said that 95 percent of Americans, a group that includes those making less than $200,000, would see taxes decrease under his plan. Obama has also said he would also provide bigger tax cuts to the middle class than McCain’s would.

McCain and his surrogates have said that Obama would raise taxes. One McCain ad suggests that Obama would raise taxes on the middle class and notes that Obama once voted to raise on those making $42,000.

According to the calculator, Obama as president proposes lowering taxes for people at that income level. Under Obama’s plan, a single person without kids making between $40,000 and $75,000 would receive $500 in tax savings. Under McCain’s plan, that person would receive no tax relief, according to the calculator.

The Obama calculator also shows that people making $200,000 or more probably wouldn’t receive a tax cut under Obama’s plan. The calculator doesn’t go into detail into what would happen to that group’s taxes. Obama has called for repealing President Bush’s tax cuts for those Americans making $250,000 or more, while McCain has supported making those tax cuts permanent.

Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro said that the election will come down to which candidate will help families “get back on their feet.”

“The vast majority of voters will discover that they’ll pay less in taxes with Obama as President,” Shapiro said. “John McCain has spent months trying to mislead voters