October 9, 2008
Posted: October 9th, 2008 06:44 AM ET
CNN

Watch and get the facts about Sen. Obama's claim.

The Statement: At a Tuesday, October 7, campaign stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama compared his tax proposal to that of his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain. "You've heard a lot about taxes in this campaign. Well, here's the truth - John McCain and I are both offering tax cuts," Obama said. "The difference is, he wants to give the average Fortune 500 CEO a $700,000 tax cut ... ."

Get the facts!

The Facts: The Obama campaign bases the $700,000 claim on a Fortune 500 survey that showed the average CEO of those companies earned a salary of $12.8 million in 2007. What the statement considers a tax cut would be renewing President Bush's current cuts, which are scheduled to expire by January 2011. McCain has said he would push to renew those cuts, while Obama wants to let the cuts run out for the wealthiest Americans and offer new ones to people who make less money.

"The $700,000 in reduced taxes for CEOs comes from McCain's extending of the lower tax rates that those CEOs benefit from that were in place under the Bush tax cuts," The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, Washington-based tax-research group founded in 1937, wrote in an analysis of Obama's statement.

So, in effect, what Obama calls a tax cut would be keeping taxes for those wealthy CEOs the same as they are now - instead of letting them revert to what they were before Bush's cuts.

Verdict: True, but incomplete.

Filed under: Barack Obama • Fact Check • John McCain


subscribe RSS Icon
About The Ticker

The latest political news from CNN's Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7. Sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails. Got a news tip or feedback? For complete political coverage, bookmark CNNPolitics.com.

CNN=Politics Screensaver

CNN=Politics ScreensaverTap into the power of The Situation Room. Download this powerful new tool that keeps you posted on the latest political news from the campaign trail.
Download (4.1 MB, PC only)

twitter
@HornickCNN: White House to government: Continue to open up: http://bit.ly/6SC11i
Updated: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:07:15 -0800
hambypCNN: Michael Steele has a book coming out in Jan. Asked about it on CNN, Steele demurs: "Ya, that's what I'm hearing somewhere down the line."
Updated: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:52:08 -0800
hambypCNN: @DanDoranBlum nice. hopefully you get two big wins over Pitt in one week.
Updated: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:42:32 -0800
hambypCNN: @AP_Ken_Thomas excellent duane spencer reference. let's try to work in lee scruggs, too, before the season ends.
Updated: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:14:50 -0800
@wolfblitzercnn: Shocking - what's happening in Baghdad. Five terror attacks. More than 100 killed and 400 injured amid fears the violence will increase.
Updated: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:08:29 -0800
Categories
Powered by WordPress.com VIP