The candidates and your taxes

Issue #1 continues to be the economy. The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 61 percent of respondents believe the economy is their primary concern this election season. A big issue among voters who go to vote in the next couple of weeks will be taxes.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain want to keep the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, but Obama would let those cuts run out for the wealthy upper-income Americans. McCain disagrees, and says all Americans should keep their taxes reduced, including the wealthy - who the Republican presidential candidate believes can use that extra income to invest in businesses and jobs good for the economy.

So, they both agree on tax cuts for most Americans, but disagree on the details. That’s why the folks at the Tax Policy Center (a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two non-partisan research groups in Washington, D.C.) have crunched the numbers and have come up with some updated projections of what your tax bill could like in 2009 with each candidate's tax plan. Here's a look:

1) If you’re in a lower tax bracket, you stand to see a bigger tax cut with Obama’s plan. For instance, if you make between $19,000 and $38,000 a year, McCain's plan gives you a tax break of $113, but Obama's plan gives a whopping $892 tax break.

2) If you’re in a higher tax bracket, you stand to see a bigger tax cut with McCain’s plan. For instance, if you make between $112,000 and $161,000 a year, McCain's plan now gives back more at $2,584, while Obama’s tax cut slows down to a mere $2,135.

3) If you make over $250,000 a year, your taxes will go up under Obama’s plan. McCain on the other hand wants to keep the Bush tax cuts for upper income earners.

So, there you go: most Americans will see cuts to their average tax bills with both their plans. The benefits with McCain's tax plan seem to grow with the more money you make, while the wealthy pay more under Obama's plan. Despite some differences between the two, there is the same downside to both plans: these tax cuts will only fuel an already large national deficit.

The Tax Policy Center estimates in 10 years, McCain's proposed tax plan could increase the deficit by as much as $7.4 trillion, and Obama's plan will increase it a little less - to about $5.9 trillion. In this time of financial crisis - where the government has instituted a stimulus package and is about to bailout big banks with stock purchases and buyouts of distressed assets - maybe the candidates should let Americans know we need some tax hikes to pay for all that. But, everyone knows that’s not how you get elected president in this country.