Obama said that “I want to provide a tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans.” He also said the cut would go to “95 percent of families.” The latter is correct. The Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center analyzed the two candidates’ tax plans and found Obama’s would cut taxes for 95.5 percent of households with children. Overall, the TPC found that Obama’s plan would produce a tax cut for 81.3 percent of all households.
Obama was also off the mark when he said “if you make less than a quarter million dollars,” you will not pay higher taxes. That’s true of couples or families, according to his tax plan. Individuals would have to make less than $200,000 in order to not pay higher taxes.
Obama also said that middle-income Americans would get three times as much of a tax cut under his plan than under McCain’s. It is true that the TPC estimates that those making between $37,595 and $66,354 a year would see an average savings of $1,118 on their taxes under Obama’s plan. McCain’s would save those same folks $325 on average.
We’ll also note that when Obama says McCain would give $200 billion in additional tax breaks to “some of the wealthiest corporations in America,” he’s talking about McCain’s plan to lower the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent for all companies.