TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Obama, McCain Tangle On Taxes

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: June 10, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. - Democrat Sen. Barack Obama seized on heightened concerns about the economy Monday in North Carolina, tying Sen. John McCain to the Bush administration's recent record of soaring gasoline prices and slumping employment.

Launching a two-week economics tour in a state the GOP usually considers safe, Obama of Illinois warned McCain's policies on taxes, spending and energy would continue the nation's slump. He called for new taxes on oil companies and wealthy individuals, and $1,000 tax cuts for most working families.

With the presidential general election now fully engaged, McCain of Arizona pushed back, saying Obama's bid to end the administration's tax cuts for upper-income earners would only worsen the economy. In key states, he is airing TV ads on the Iraq war, which he sees as a better issue this fall. He took questions on the economy, from donors in Virginia on Monday, and planned a speech today to small-business owners in Washington.

The core of McCain's economic plan "amounts to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush's policies," Obama told about 900 people in Raleigh.

North Carolina is not a state ordinarily pursued by Democratic presidential nominees. However, it gave Obama a crucial victory in his primary battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and he hopes to put it in play this fall - or at least force McCain to spend time and money here.

Obama offered no new policies in his speech. Rather, he emphasized his economic differences with McCain and summarize earlier proposals. They include winding down the Iraq war, tightening credit card regulations, and pumping more money into education, alternative fuels and infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

Obama took part of his speech from headlines across the nation, noting that the average price of gas just hit $4 a gallon for the first time. The news followed an unusually sharp spike in the unemployment rate Friday.

Repeatedly linking McCain to Bush, Obama said, "Our president sacrificed investments in health care, and education, and energy and infrastructure on the altar of tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs."

At a fundraiser in Richmond, Va., McCain noted that he supports a temporary suspension of the federal tax on gasoline, which Obama dismisses as a gimmick that will not bring down prices.

"Talk to somebody who owns a couple of trucks and makes a living with those trucks," McCain said. "Ask them whether they'd like to have some relief: 18 1/2 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24 1/2 cents for diesel. They say it matters."

The two differed somewhat on energy production as well. Obama called for greater government investments "in a renewable energy policy that ends our addiction on foreign oil, provides real long-term relief from high fuel costs and builds a green economy that could create up to 5 million well-paying jobs that can't be outsourced."

McCain was gung-ho about nuclear power and expanded domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. When a donor in Richmond summed up his advice as, "nuclear, and drill wherever we've got it," McCain responded: "You just gave my speech. Thank you, my friend."

He added, "Long-term, we've got to become used to nuclear, wind, solar, tide, all of the alternate energy, including a battery that will take a car 100 miles or 200 miles" before being recharged.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT