McCain’s Unconvincing Claim That Obama Favors Tax Hikes

UFE's Senior Organizer on Estate Tax Policy, Lee Farris wrote a letter to The Hill that addresses where both John McCain and Barack Obama stand on the Estate Tax.  The piece also puts forth an alternative to the candidates' proposals. The Hill.

Original publication: The Hill

Date of publication: 08/12/2008

Tax law says that in 2011 the estate tax will have an exemption of $1 million per spouse, and a top rate of 55 percent. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) proposes an exemption of $3.5 million per spouse and a 45 percent tax rate. How does Sen. McCain count that as raising taxes?In fact, Sen. Obama's estate tax proposal would lose about $320 billion over 10 years compared to current law, while the cost of complete repeal is about $670 billion. (McCain's much more costly plan will gut the estate tax.)

Read the full letter in The Hill.