McCain's economic policies will widen gap between tax brackets

Editor,

There are a lot of reasons why I will not vote for John McCain. The aspect of McCain's platform I dislike the most is his position on the economy. In contrast to the economic plan proposed by Barack Obama, I believe the McCain economic plan is decidedly not looking out for the best interests of the vast majority of Americans during a critical time in which we face major economic problems.

Both candidates propose to lower taxes for the most part. About 90 percent of Americans would pay less tax under Obama's plan than under McCain's. Households making less than $20,000 per year, for example, would save about $570 each year in taxes under Obama and only $19 under McCain. Overall, Obama's plan would lower taxes for 95 percent of all Americans, while McCain's would give the largest tax cuts to the highest-income households. In other words, McCain would help out most those who need it the least. This information is from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center at TaxPolicyCenter.org.

Shamefully, commercials the McCain campaign is airing in New Mexico and other swing states say Obama will raise your taxes, but those ads are misleading like a few of his other ads, unless of course your income is in the upper 5 percent. Those ads don't mention the reality of McCain's plan, which is that he would give $200 billion in tax breaks to corporations and very little to 100 million Americans.

The economic theory McCain uses to justify this plan is known as trickle-down economics. The theory argues that helping the highest-income households allows them to spend more money, which will stimulate the economy for the lower income households. The economic policies McCain would enact are nearly identical to those President Bush used, which have helped create the problems we currently face. Obama, on the other hand, believes you have to strengthen the base to improve the economy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president that led us out of the Great Depression, also believed that you have to help the base. As he described on April 7, 1932, he developed plans that "build from the bottom up and not from the top down." He used plans "that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid." I believe that if this strategy pulled us from our nation's biggest economic crisis, it can help us during our current one.

Please don't fall victim to the distortions and distractions that dominated the last two presidential elections and caused many to vote against their economic interests. McCain is using the same tactics. He is using them because he cannot win on the real issues. McCain's policies will only serve to widen the gap between the elite and the average American at a time when we desperately need a boost. Obama will fight for the working class and strengthen the foundation of the American economy.

Matthew F. Kirk

UNM alumnus