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Would Obama’s plan really cost the country jobs?

The Statement

In a news release Thursday, October 30, responding to news that the U.S. gross domestic product fell in the third quarter of this year, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain criticized Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama's tax proposals. "According to the independent Center for Data Analysis, Barack Obama's new policies will destroy nearly 6 million jobs over the next decade," the release said.

Get the Facts!

The Facts

The Center for Data Analysis is part of the Heritage Foundation, a fact the McCain release does not mention. The Heritage Foundation Web site describes the group as a think tank "whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies."

An analysis posted October 30 on the Web site studies McCain and Obama's tax proposals, using a computer program that predicts how business owners and others would respond to the candidates' tax plans. A synopsis of the study predicts "much slower output and employment growth" under Obama's plan. But the analysis itself says the number of jobs in the country would increase under either candidate - although the conservative think tank says jobs would increase more under McCain.

The figure McCain uses comes from the synopsis, which says "total employment" would fall an average of 589,000 a year under Obama's plan. According to the foundation, that number represents the number of jobs that would exist compared to the potential number of jobs that could exist under current tax law. It actually says the number of jobs that would exist under McCain would be 182,000
jobs greater than the current potential because of the changes he would make to tax law.

The Verdict:

False. The study does not say Obama's plan would "destroy" jobs but that fewer jobs would be created under his plan than McCain's.