TPC Citations & Sources

2008 | 2007 |2006 | 2005

TPC research and analysis appears in hundreds of news articles each year. Below is a partial list, including the sources used in selected articles. Please note, article links cited below were verified on the day of publication and may change.

January  |  February  |  March  |  April  |  May  |  June  |  July  |  August  |  September  |  October  |  November  |  December

September

• Republican ad a half-truth -- Eye on Ohio , The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Openers blog (September 30, 2008) by Jon Craig.
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, over the next decade, Obama's plan would result in a national debt of $1.2 trillion -- smaller than Americans would see under McCain's plan. The center concluded McCain's plan, largely a continuation of President Bush's tax reductions, would add $5 trillion."

• Facts, lies and politics , Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (September 30, 2008) by Gerald Prante.
  

  "And in 2009, according to Tax Policy Center preliminary figures, the average tax unit in the middle 20 percent would save $1,559 from McCain's health-care tax plan. In 2013, that average is $1,288. In 2018, the average savings is $830."

• New reality slashes at candidates’ pricey promises , The Kansas City Star (September 30, 2008) by Scott Canon.
  

  "What’s more, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates McCain’s tax credits for families buying their own health insurance would cost the Treasury $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The center speculates Obama’s health plan could cost $1.6 trillion."

• 3 Tax breaks we love (but can't afford) , Money Magazine (September 29, 2008) by Pat Regnier.
  

  "And they aren't exactly a free gift. "It all has to be made up by higher taxes on our other income," says Leonard Burman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "Or by higher taxes on our kids because we aren't actually paying our bills."

• Forman: Tax cuts, red ink as far as the eye can see , The Journal Record (September 29, 2008) by Jon Forman.
  

  "According to an analysis by the independent Tax Policy Center, the tax plan Obama has proposed during the campaign would increase taxes in 2009 on the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while offering tax cuts for the other 80 percent."

• Obama says 'stay calm;' McCain camp slams Democrats , CNN.com (September 29, 2008) by Dana Bash and Alexander Marquardt.
  

  "According to an analysis by the independent Tax Policy Center, the tax plan Obama has proposed during the campaign would increase taxes in 2009 on the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while offering tax cuts for the other 80 percent."

• Campaign check: Lies and half-truths outed , San Francisco Chronicle (September 28, 2008) by Joe Garofoli.
  

  "FactCheck.org says McCain continues - even in Friday's debate - a "pattern of deceit" when it comes to describing Obama's tax plan. The nonpartisan Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center said Obama's plan would give a tax cut to 81 percent of all U.S. households and 95 percent of households with children. True, McCain offered his financial crisis plan on Sept. 19, three days before Obama. But the regulatory plan Obama outlined was virtually the same one he presented in March, long before McCain."

• The Shifting Tax Implications of McCain’s Health Plan , The Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire blog (September 28, 2008) by Laura Meckler.
  

  "But at some point, the McCain campaign decided that health benefits should remain exempt from payroll taxes. That meant that there would still be an incentive to provide health insurance on the job. But it came with a price: $1.3 trillion over 10 years, according to a preliminary analysis of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank in Washington."

• So now Congress worries about Main Street's 'Little Guy' , The Journal News (September 28, 2008) by Herb Pinder.
  

  "Here's some data on how average American taxpayers rated before the bailout talk, and before Bear Stearns, AIG, Lehman Brothers, WAMU et al. fell on their faces - the grim figures from a variety of sources, including the Tax Policy Center, Congressional testimony, the Census Bureau and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:"

• Editorial: McCain’s health care plan risky , Atlanta Journal-Constitution (September 28, 2008).
  

  "In addition to being more radical, the McCain plan could be more costly in the long run than what Obama proposes. Economists studying both plans projected that over a 10-year-span there was far more efficiency in Obama’s $1.6 billion proposal — even with additional government spending — than McCain’s plan, which would cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. (The Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center estimated earlier this month that McCain’s plan, on a per capita basis, was seven times more expensive than Obama’s at covering the uninsured."

• Sunday Forum: The debt bomb , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 28, 2008) By Andrea Coombes & Ruth Mantell.
  

  "Rudolph G. Penner is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office."

• Emergency measures , MarketWatch (September 28, 2008) By Andrea Coombes & Ruth Mantell.
  

  "Still, the ballooning deficit will "crowd out other tax cuts or spending eventually," said Len Berman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. That means the next president will have to make choices, given that "the candidates are each proposing $4 trillion to $6 trillion in additional tax cuts, including their health plans," he said."

• Obama slams McCain on middle class , CNN.com (September 28, 2008).
  

  "According to an analysis by the independent Tax Policy Center, the tax plan Obama has proposed during the campaign would increase taxes in 2009 on the wealthiest 20 percent of households, while offering tax cuts for the other 80 percent."

• Editorial: For president: Barack Obama , The Canton Repository (September 28, 2008).
  

  "At home, Obama is much more in tune with the struggles of the middle class, and his tax plan would benefit many more Americans than McCain's proposals would. According to the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, middle-class families would save about $1,118 a year under Obama's plan, but only $325 under McCain's. Obama's plan also would increase the deficit less than McCain's — $3.5 trillion by 2018, compared to $5 trillion, the center calculates."

• Obama's tax plan not what it seems , The Arizona Republic (September 28, 2008) By Mike Corrado.
  

  "A review of each candidate's tax plans by the Tax Policy Center noted that middle-class families earning a middle-class income ($66,000-$111,000) will only receive $200 extra from an Obama presidency as opposed to Sen. John McCain's tax plan."

• Fact Check: McCain, Obama Err, Stretch Truth , ABCNews.com (September 27, 2008) by Lisa Chinn.
  

  "Fact: The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says that Obama's policies would increase the debt by $3.5 trillion over 10 years. The Tax Policy Center adds that McCain's policies would lead to an even bigger increase in the debt of $5.1 trillion."

• Without Offering Context, Some Distortions , The New York Times (September 27, 2008) by Larry Rohter.
  

  "It is based on Mr. Obama’s vote for Senate Democrats’ nonbinding budget resolution for fiscal 2009 that assumed all of President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts would expire as scheduled in 2010. But Mr. Obama has promised that he would retain all of Mr. Bush’s tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year. Mr. Obama has proposed other tax breaks for the middle class as well. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has concluded that 95 percent of families with children would get a tax break under Mr. Obama’s plan, significantly more than under Mr. McCain."

• Reality Check: The Debate Breakdown , WCCO (September 27, 2008) By Pat Kessler.
  

  "The non-partisan tax policy center said the Obama tax plan will cut taxes more than McCain's -- 95 percent of taxpayers get a cut, four percent of taxpayers stay the same and one percent of taxpayers earning $250,000 or more, lose their Bush tax breaks."

• Health-insurance tax claim incorrect , Arizona Daily Star (September 27, 2008).
  

  "McCain's plan seems to be a significant tax cut, at least in the short term," said Len Burman, who oversaw the analysis for the center, a joint venture of two liberal-leaning think tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute."

• Four Pinocchios for Biden's Tax Fabrication , The Washington Post, The Fact Checker blog (September 27, 2008) By Michael Dobbs.
  

  "By most independent calculations, the McCain plan will leave most taxpayers better off in strictly financial terms, at least until 2013. After 2013, the benefits will begin to diminish. By 2018, taxpayers in the top quintile will be slightly worse off, but middle-income taxpayers will either break even or be slightly ahead. According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, the McCain proposals will result in a net benefit of $1,241 to the average tax payer in 2009, $895 in 2013, and $386 in 2018."

• Dueling Tax Cuts , NPR, Vox Politics blog (September 26, 2008) by Chris Arnold.
  

  "The candidates are trading shots on their tax plans here. This is the breakdown according to the independent Tax Policy Center on what the plans would mean for Americans come tax time."

• Fact Check: 'Pay for Every Dime'? Not Quite , ABCNews.com, Political Radar blog (September 26, 2008).
  

  "While the Tax Policy Center has estimated the effect that the candidates' tax proposals would have on the nation's debt, it has not been able to do the same on the spending side because neither candidate has been sufficiently specific."

• Check Point: The First Debate , The New York Times, The Caucus blog (September 26, 2008) by Julie Bosman, Jackie Calmes, Michael Luo, Larry Rohter and Matthew L. Wald.
  

  "It is based on Mr. Obama’s vote for Senate Democrats’ nonbinding budget resolution for fiscal 2009 that assumed all of President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts would expire as scheduled in 2010. But Mr. Obama has promised that he would retain all Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year. Mr. Obama has proposed other tax breaks for the middle class as well. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has concluded that 95 percent of families with children would get a tax break under Mr. Obama’s plan, significantly more than under Mr. McCain."

• Obama Tells It Like It Is on Economics , The New Republic, The Plank blog (September 26, 2008) by Jonathan Cohn.
  

  "But every reliable, independent expert agrees that Obama's plan is far more fiscally responsible than McCain's. The definitive word on this comes from the Tax Policy Center."

• Biden misleads with accusation of tax increase , The Associated Press (September 26, 2008)by Kevin Freking.
  

  "Burman's analysis stresses that McCain's tax credit becomes less valuable for most people as the years go by. That's because Burman assumes the tax credit would increase in value over the years at the rate of the consumer price index, which has historically risen much more slowly than health care costs. Meanwhile, the current tax break increases at the same rate as health insurance premiums grow."

• Editorial: Bailout makes changes to tax plans necessary , The Concord Monitor (September 26, 2008).
  

  "Obama's tax plan might make things better. It would lower the bills of 95 percent of Americans and give the biggest savings, 3 percent, to those making under $19,000 per year, according to the Tax Policy Center. Because Obama's plan returns most of the money to people likely to be struggling with credit card debt and overdue mortgages, it could help them repay their loans, thus strengthening banks. His plan would raise taxes by roughly 10 percent for those making more than $603,000. Because of that increase, his tax plan does less than McCain's to increase the national debt."

• Conservative Parker calls for Palin to go , Minneapolis Star Tribune (September 26, 2008).
  

  "An analysis of McCain's plan by the Tax Policy Center estimated that it would increase the federal deficit by $1.3 trillion over 10 years, mainly because it would lead to less tax revenue coming in. The same group says Barack Obama's plan would increase the deficit by $1.6 trillion over the same period."

• Economists say House GOP plan would be ineffective, costly , McClatchy Newspapers (September 26, 2008) By Kevin G. Hall.
  

  "On the tax proposals, temporarily waiving the 15 percent capital gains tax "would cost hundreds of billions of dollars," said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center at the centrist Urban Institute, a think tank."

• How John McCain lost my "Republican" vote , The Denver Post (September 25, 2008)by Lynn Bolinske Dolven.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that Obama's tax plan would cut taxes for 81% of all households and 95% of households with kids. Obama's tax plan limits income tax increases to households with incomes of more than $250,000."

• The Christian Science Monitor (September 25, 2008)by Mark Trumbull.
  

  "Tax cuts, energy plans, healthcare cost-control plans, and proposals on the mortgage crisis are covered in other parts of this series. But it’s noteworthy that both candidates propose the stimulus of big tax cuts, compared with current law which mandates that current income tax rates expire at the end of 2010. If enacted in 2009, the McCain tax cuts would be the most stimulative, leaving $98 billion more in private-sector pockets in that year than under an Obama plan enacted in 2009, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• The Whoppers of 2008 , Newsweek (September 25, 2008)by Joe Miller.
  

  "McCain has promised that he will balance the budget by 2013. That's unlikely. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says that without serious spending cuts, McCain's tax proposals will actually increase the size of the debt between $5.1 trillion and $7.4 trillion over the next 10 years. So balancing the budget would require cutting federal spending by 25 percent. McCain, however, has proposed very few specific spending cuts."

• Reality Check: McCain Ad Attacks Obama On Tax Issues , Channel 3000 (September 25, 2008).
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center has looked at the tax and spending plans of both candidates, and said unless major spending cuts or tax increases were made by either candidate, both of their plans will substantially increase the national debt and fail to significantly stimulate the economy."

• Letter: The truth about candidate tax policies , New Richmond News (September 25, 2008) By Rachel O’Connell.
  

  "These are the facts: The Tax Policy Center examined both parties’ plans and found that Obama would keep the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 but do away with Bush’s tax cuts for those making over $250,000."

• Obama's policies better for Delta than McCain's, leaders say , Arkansas News Bureau (September 25, 2008) By Jason Wiest.
  

  "Under McCain's tax proposal, the three lowest income groups, which account for 60 percent of taxpayers, would see their average after-tax income increase by less than 1 percent, anywhere between $19 and $319, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institute."

• Breaking down the tax plans , Portsmouth Herald (September 25, 2008) By Jerry Harkavy.
  

  "Information from the candidates' economic advisors, the Internal Revenue Service, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center also helped shape the model, which went online this week."

• We must focus on real issues, not irrelevancies and falsehoods , The Capital Times (September 25, 2008) By Jean Henderson.
  

  "As just one example: While charged with promoting "skyrocketing" tax increases, the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center describes the Democratic plan as reducing taxes for low- and moderate-income families, raising them only for high-bracket taxpayers. It's discouraging to see falsehoods repeated again and again."

• McCain or Obama: Tax Plan Savings, Keloland TV (September 24, 2008) By Brian Kushida.
  

  "But when it comes to taxes for family households, how much you benefit depends on how much you make. The Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan think-tank, calculated which families benefit, and which lose, under each candidate's proposals."

• A new analysis of presidential tax plans, The Journal News (September 24, 2008) By Brian Tumulty.
  

  "Up until now, the most comprehensive independent analysis of the tax cut plans put forth by the presidential campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain has come from the Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Tax fact and fiction, Detroit Metro Times (September 24, 2008) By Sandra Svoboda and Curt Guyette.
  

  "Tax and fiscal policy will loom large in the next president's domestic policy agenda," says a recent report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "The leading presidential candidates have not addressed it seriously." The center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution located in Washington, D.C., analyzed the plans, calling them "major changes" to current tax laws. In the 65-page report, the authors examined not only campaign white papers, but details advisers provided, as well as what the candidates have said on the stump."

• The Next Fiscal Crisis: A Federal Budget Calamity, The Kiplinger Letter (September 24, 2008) By Richard Sammon.
  

  "McCain's big tax cuts would be a hard sell. His plan to extend Bush's cuts and add more would cost $627 billion over 10 years, according the Tax Policy Center. Even if it spurred the economy and brought in more revenue, there would be a lag and the deficit would still rise. McCain's plans to rein in spending, freezing many domestic programs at current levels and ending earmarks, would save only $20 billion a year, barely denting the deficit."

• How Your Taxes Will Fare Under Obama, McCain, The Wall Street Journal (September 24, 2008) By Tom Herman.
  

  "He also favors higher Social Security taxes on high-income workers, but not for many years -- and he hasn't disclosed details. He also has called for expanded targeted tax breaks for many groups, including retirees, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Hopefuls' grand plans may be delayed, The Boston Globe (September 24, 2008) By Brian C. Mooney.
  

  "If implemented in full, the tax proposals of either McCain or Obama would dramatically increase annual budget deficits and drive up the total national debt - the sum of all the annual deficits and already $9.5 trillion - according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, run by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution in Washington. McCain's proposals would add about $5 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, and Obama's about $3.5 trillion, the study said."

• Secondary Sources: Bailout Concerns, Credit Crunch, Inflation Targeting, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (September 24, 2008) By Phil Izzo.
  

  "Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center’s TaxVox blog looks at how the bailout will effect the next president. “Barack Obama and John McCain are slowly beginning to get it: For the next President, this week’s financial market meltdown has changed everything. Suddenly, their grandiose promises of new tax cuts and ambitious spending are sounding more hollow than ever. An $11.3 trillion national debt will do that to you every time."

• Sorting Out the Truth on McCain, Obama Tax Policies, CQ Politics (September 24, 2008) By Angie Drobnic Holan.
  

  "Analysis: The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said McCain’s plan could grow the economy by cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy, but it also would increase the budget deficit. The center said Obama’s plan will encourage more low-income people to join the workforce. But it questions his plans to help seniors and homeowners, two groups already favored under the tax code. For more information, visit the center’s Web site."

• Obama, McCain, cautiously watch financial debate, The Associated Press (September 23, 2008) By Charles Babington.
  

  "Although the financial landscape of early 2009 cannot be fully known, it's highly likely that it will "crowd out tax changes and other changes" that Obama and McCain are promising, said Bill Gale, the chief economist at the Brookings Institution. Assuming Congress approves a bailout of about $700 billion, he said, there will be "less money around to play with," and "only a limited amount of attention they can pay" to other priorities, including health care, Social Security, foreign policy and fighting terrorism."

• Both tax plans cut, but how much and for whom?, Miami Law & Politics Examiner (September 23, 2008) By Jorge Luna.
  

  "According to a recently released analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, most families will see a tax cut under either candidate’s plan. The difference is how much and what happens to those higher up. And perhaps more importantly, how the economy will respond."

• Obama's health-care plan offers private, public options, The Columbus Dispatch (September 23, 2008) By Catherine Candisky and Alan Johnson.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a Washington-based research group, predicts that Obama's plan would reduce the number of uninsured people by 34 million in 10 years. The price: an estimated $1.6 trillion, according to the center."

• A New Landscape, the Same Proposals, The Washington Post (September 23, 2008) By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray.
  

  "Even before the bailout plan was announced, the Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that the deficit for fiscal 2009 would reach $438 billion, already a record in dollar terms. If Treasury needs half the money it has sought for the bailout plan in 2009, as well as money already promised to seize Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and the insurance giant American International Group, the deficit could approach $900 billion. As a percentage of the economy, that number would rival the highest deficits in history, recorded in the Reagan administration, said Rudolph G. Penner, another former CBO director, now at the Urban Institute."

• The politics of the bail-out, BBC News (September 23, 2008) By Steve Schifferes.
  

  "Both are advocating tax cuts which could cost between $2 trillion and $4 trillion over eight years in office, according to independent analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Their healthcare plans could cost another $1 trillion, the Center adds."

• Letter: Comparing Obama and McCain tax proposals, Port St. Lucie News (September 22, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center will update this analysis as needed. You may read the whole document online (http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates—taxproposals—tpc/index.htm). Here is how the average tax bill could change in 2009 if either John McCain’s or Barack Obama’s tax proposals were fully in place compared to 2008 taxes."

• Editorial: Obama, McCain offer two very different paths to health care, The Virginian-Pilot (September 22, 2008).
  

  "Obama's plan would add an estimated 34 million people to the insurance rolls at a cost of $1.6 trillion, based on a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. He would create a government-operated insurance program and require larger employers to provide coverage for their workers. Parents would be required to cover their children, although adults would not be mandated to cover themselves."

• Overhauling Health Care: Two Divergent Visions, MSNBC.com (September 22, 2008).
  

  "The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, nonpartisan policy center, notes that Obama has proposed raising the payroll tax for those earning more than $250,000. The center assumes that would include a 2 percent income tax surcharge on adjusted gross income above $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for others, and an additonal 2 percent payroll tax for employers on workers above those levels. That could increase taxes on high-paid workers by nearly $400 billion over a decade."

• The economy, stupid!, Minnesota Daily (September 22, 2008) By Johnathan Sharkey.
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center released at the end of July a study of how both candidates’ proposals would affect the government’s bottom line. They found that Obama would add from $3.6 to $5.9 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. That’s a huge amount of money. But McCain’s plan would add from $5.1 to $7.4 trillion. The math major sitting next to you in your lecture right now can tell you which of those numbers is bigger."

• BAD MEDIA: CBS Cheats on Tax Coverage, Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel (September 22, 2008).
  

  "Putting a particular face on policy statistics can be an important journalistic technique--but only if journalists bear in mind that an overall average is more representative of reality than an anecdotal example. In this case, the family CBS picked does a lot better under the Obama tax plan than most families in their income bracket--according to the Tax Policy Center (8/15/08), who are the standard authority that the media go to on such questions, the average tax break for households making between $19,000 and $38,000 would be $892 under Obama's tax plan, versus $118 with McCain's."

• McCain and Obama offer differing tax cut plans, Omaha World-Herald (September 21, 2008) By Henry J. Cordes.
  

  "As different as the approaches are, the candidates' plans do have one thing in common: According to the study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington, both would massively expand the U.S. national debt."

• McCain vs. Obama: 2 views on economy, Philadelphia Daily News (September 21, 2008) By Catherine Lucey.
  

  "According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, people making less than $250,000 would see a bigger increase in their take-home pay under Obama than McCain."

• Obama offers help to majority of Americans, The Capital Times (September 21, 2008) By Donna Roepenack.
  

  "For example, in the $38,000 to $66,000 salary bracket, McCain's plan gives a tax break of $31. Obama's plan gives a break of $1,042. In the $603,000 to $2.8 million bracket, McCain's plan gives a tax break of $45,361 while Obama's plan will tax them $119,574 more (Tax Policy Center.org)."

• Sorting out the truth on taxes, St. Petersburg Times (September 21, 2008) By Catherine Lucey.
  

  "We consulted the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which created detailed models for how candidates' tax proposals would affect taxpayers. Under Obama's plan, the center finds: 95 percent of all tax filers would get a cut in their individual income taxes; and 95 percent of all families with children would get a cut in their total federal taxes. Every taxpayer has different circumstances, but if you make less than $200,000 a year and you work, we can't see how your taxes would go up under Obama's plan. We rate this statement True."

• Panelists say economy worries them, Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader (September 21, 2008) By Andrew M. Seder.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan cooperative between the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, projects the government’s debt would go up by $3.5 trillion under the Obama proposals and by $5 trillion over the next decade under McCain’s plan."

• Why does McCain keep lying about taxes? SNL skit closer to the truth., Chicago Examiner (September 21, 2008) By Marj Halperin.
  

  "John McCain repeatedly "approves this message" even though he clearly knows the ads are phonied up.  That was the funny scene that opened Saturday Night Live this weekend.  Not so funny when McCain repeatedly tells campaign rallies Obama will raise their taxes.  A Gallup poll conducted in late August showed 53% of Americans believe McCain, but expert analysts don't.  Independent sources from the Washington Post to the Tax Policy Center have concluded Obama will actually provide the middle class more tax relief."

• Maryland budget woes: Promises, promises, The Frederick News-Post (September 21, 2008) By Don Kornreich.
  

  "It should be noted that O'Malley and Franchot are liberal Democrats and strongly support Sen. Barack Obama, who has proposed a "middle-class" tax cut. A nonpartisan study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution has concluded that Obama's plan (along with one proposed by Sen. John McCain) would dramatically increase the federal deficit."

• Costly Financial Rescue Could Narrow Economic Options Later, The New York Times (September 20, 2008) By Mark Landler.
  

  "The maximum rate on long-term capital gains - gains on assets that were held for more than a year - was reduced in 2003 to 15 percent. Sen. John McCain has pledged to extend the tax cut past 2010, when it is set to expire, according to an analysis of the candidates' tax plans by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."

• Election may hit stock portfolios, Concord Monitor (September 20, 2008) By Kate Davidson.
  

  "The people with leverage are the Japanese, the Chinese and the oil-producing countries, who will want assurances that the debt they hold is worth something,” said Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who worked in the Treasury department during the Reagan administration."

• Letter: Obama more fiscally responsible, The Advocate (September 20, 2008) By Barbara Wallace.
  

  "The independent analysts who have examined those plans include the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Its report shows that John McCain’s plan, focused on expanding the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, would actually cost significantly more than Barack Obama’s — by more than $1 trillion. When interest on the debt is factored in, that amount increases."

• What McCain said and what he didn't say, Minnesota Public Radio (September 19, 2008) By Tom Scheck.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says most Americans will see a tax cut, not a tax increase, under Obama's plan. The group found that 95 percent of all tax filers will pay less in individual income taxes under his plan."

• Analysts: McCain Policies Will Have ‘Dramatic’ Effect on Employer Insurance Plans, Workforce Management (September 19, 2008) By Jeremy Smerd.
  

  "Analysis by the Tax Policy Center also estimated that McCain would increase the total number of insured by 1 million, while Obama’s plan would increase the number of insured by 18 million by the end of 2009."

• Wall St crisis will call shots for next president, The Washington Post (September 19, 2008) By Steven C. Johnson.
  

  "Leonard Burman, director of the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute's joint Tax Policy Center, put a finer point on it: "McCain says he'll offset enormous tax cuts with cuts in spending, but he would have to cut the size of government back to what it was in the 1950s to make the books balance."

• Biden says McCain's economic answers go nowhere, The Associated Press (September 19, 2008) By Joe Milica.
  

  "Although McCain claims Obama would raise taxes, the independent Tax Policy Center and other groups conclude that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama's proposals."

• Editorial: Obama would tax and spend, TV ad says, Statesman-Journal (September 19, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center reports that Obama's plan raises taxes on high-income taxpayers to offset tax cuts for low- and middle-income households. In contrast, "McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households," according to the center."

• Biden: Tax Is Patriotic, New York Post (September 19, 2008)By Carolyn Lochhead.
  

  "Both candidates' tax plans would cut taxes and add trillions to the nation's debt, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."

• Obama, McCain shift election talk to economy, San Francisco Chronicle (September 19, 2008)By Carolyn Lochhead.
  

  "Before the crisis, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated the 10-year deficit that would be incurred by Obama's tax proposals at $5.4 trillion and McCain's at $7.4 trillion."

• Research before voting , The Morning Call (September 19, 2008).
  

  "This is especially true in economics. John McCain would have us believe he will be our tax savior. However, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (www.taxpolicycenter.org), if you are among the 60 percent of Americans earning less than $111,646 a year, Barack Obama's plan would save you more money than McCain's. It would also give the government more revenue to fix our infrastructure, which has crumbled markedly during the Bush administration. Admittedly, McCain would be your best pal if you are in the top 0.1 percent of Americans, and earn over $2.87 million a year."

• Obama plans stops in two Florida cities, Sarasota Herald Tribune (September 19, 2008) By Anna Scott.
  

  "Obama favors cutting taxes for 80 percent of families, according to the Tax Policy Center, and rolling back the Bush tax cuts to raise rates on those earning more than $250,000. McCain favors cuts for all income groups."

• Taxing Rhetoric, Minnesota Daily (September 18, 2008) by Matt Leighton and Patrick Grumley.
  

  "His answer is to increase taxes on the upper income levels while lowering those of the rest of the nation (more than McCain would, it should be noted). This is a sound idea, but needs to be advocated in a different way. We agree that some progressivity in the tax structure is beneficial —necessary, even. Unfortunately, apologists of this policy make it out to be less sound economic policy and more punitive towards those who have gathered wealth. That is wrong. Success should never be punished. The right way to frame a higher tax policy is in the name of macroeconomic stability and deficit reduction. And according to the Tax Policy Center, those affected by the increase will only lose a modest 1.5 percent of their income."

• Letter: Fear tactics, The Observer (September 18, 2008) by Joni Hubred-Golden.
  

  "Most of all, I reject her campaign's outright lies and constant trading on fear. Their ads falsely blame Democrats' opposition to off-shore drilling for our state's economic mess. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin approved an ad that claims Sen. Obama proposes tax hikes that will devastate struggling families. However, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center revealed the McCain/Palin policies would give six-figure tax relief to those making $2.9 million or more, while Obama/Biden policies would provide the greatest relief for those making less than $227,000 a year."

• Editorial: Time For Straight Talk On Taxes, Investor’s Business Daily (September 17, 2008).
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center's analysis, the most thorough to date, Obama's tax plan in 2009 would produce the biggest cuts, averaging $1,264, for taxpayers in the fourth quintile; these are the people making more than 60% of their fellow Americans and less than the top 20%. The bottom 20% would get benefits of only $567, while the top 20% would get hit with an average hike of $3,017. (The top 1% could pay much more — $93,709.)"

• Uncle Sam taps piggy bank, borrows to aid market, The Associated Press (September 17, 2008) by Martin Crutsinger.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates those will cost $4.2 trillion over the next decade in the case of McCain and $2.9 trillion in the case of Obama."

• Obama blames GOP for economic woes, The Durango Herald (September 17, 2008) by Joe Hanel .
  

  "Indeed, the independent Tax Policy Center studied both candidates' tax plans and concluded that Obama's would result in an average $2,220 tax cut for middle-income people, more than McCain's average $1,400 tax cut. The difference comes for the richest 1 percent of taxpayers: Their taxes would rise $19,000 under Obama's plan but be cut $125,000 under McCain's plan."

• Why Inflation Means Relief For Taxpayers, The Wall Street Journal (September 17, 2008) by Tom Herman.
  

  "The AMT has many rules that differ from the regular system. For example, state and local taxes aren't deductible under the AMT. That's why among those most likely to be affected by the AMT are taxpayers who live in high-tax areas, such as New York City, New Jersey and California, and who make between about $100,000 and $500,000. For more details on the inner workings of the AMT, visit the Web site of the Tax Policy Center (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org), a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution."

• Taxing Promises, The Washington Post, The Fact Checker blog (September 17, 2008) by Michael Dobbs.
  

  "According to Eric Foder of the Tax Policy Center, an independent think tank that has examined the budget plans of both candidates, "it is a bit of a stretch" to claim that Obama's vote on the budget resolution represents a vote for higher taxes. The FY 2009 budget resolution did not increase taxes. Instead it provided target guidelines for the budget committees based on the assumption that the Bush tax cuts will expire on schedule."

• Get truth about McCain tax proposals, The Coloradoan (September 17, 2008).
  

  "For almost all American families, Barack Obama will lower your taxes more than John McCain. Here are the findings from the Tax Policy Center on Obama’s and McCain’s proposals and how they would affect the income taxes of American families."

• Whose tax plan is really best?, Rocky Mountain News (September 17, 2008) By Paul Campos .
  

  "A new report from the Tax Policy Center reveals that McCain's tax proposals promise more of the same - if they were enacted, the richest 1 percent of Americans would see a far larger percentage increase (and an astronomically larger gross increase) in their income than anyone else."

• McCain, Obama Campaign Promises Imperiled by Wall Street Rescue, Bloomberg News (September 17, 2008) By Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "Besides budget constraints, the crisis will keep the next president from focusing on other issues early in his tenure, when political capital is abundant and the next elections are distant, said Howard Gleckman, a senior researcher at the Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Sweet promises and the sour taste of fiscal reality, The Boston Globe (September 16, 2008) By Derrick Z. Jackson.
  

  "To be clear, there are huge differences in the tax plans of Obama and GOP nominee John McCain, according to an analysis published last week by the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute."

• FACT CHECK: Obama wants to raise taxes?, CNN.com, Political Ticker blog (September 16, 2008).
  

  "The largest increases would be on the top one-percent of earners. That's according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group whose staff of experts includes former economic advisers to the White House and Congress under both Republicans and Democrats."

• Obama’s Fiscal Follies, FoxNews.com, The Fox Forum blog (September 16, 2008) By Christopher Coffey.
  

  "One the more underreported stories this cycle is the effect Obama’s tax plan will have on the deficit. His tax plan will raise taxes on the wealthiest 5% of families. He also proposes a variety of new tax credits and enhancements. The estimated cost according to the Tax Policy Center is $2.9 trillion over 10 years."

• Obama ad strikes blow at McCain's tax cuts, The Plain Dealer (September 16, 2008) By Jessica Wehrman.
  

  "Of more interest is the assertion that McCain favors $200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class. According to Roberton Williams, a research associate at the Tax Policy Center, McCain's tax plan would raise taxes for corporations in some areas but cut them in others. The net effect would be cuts of $275 billion over a 10-year period."

• Obama, McCain bemoan stock market crisis; both beneficiaries of Wall Street donations, Dayton Daily News (September 16, 2008) By Scott Shepard.
  

  "Both have also proposed tax cuts, although in general McCain's tax cuts "would primarily benefit those with very high incomes," while Obama "offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers," according to an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Put your lipstick on this, Waco Tribune-Herald (September 16, 2008) By John Young.
  

  "Both candidates would drive the nation deeper into debt if either followed through on his proposals. But lest one assume that the “tax-and-spend” Democrat would dig the hole deeper than he of the “party of austerity,” the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said that McCain, with more sweeping tax cuts and an open-ended approach to Iraq, would pile up $3 trillion more debt through 2018 than Obama, who would spend more on health care and education."

• New Studies Report Wide Disparity in Health Care Plans, The Washington Post, The Trail blog (September 16, 2008) By Perry Bacon Jr.
  

  "New studies from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and the policy journal Health Affairs suggest that Obama's proposal would eventually cover more than 34 million of the roughly 47 million Americans currently without insurance, while McCain's would cover at best 5 million uninsured.."

• Biden calls McCain 'profoundly out of touch', The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 16, 2008) By Kathy Matheson.
  

  "Biden also sought to dispel what he said were Republican lies about Democratic nominee Barack Obama planning to raise taxes. The Delaware senator said 95 percent of Americans would receive a tax cut under Obama's plan; independent groups such as the Tax Policy Center have concluded that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama's proposals."

• Candidates' health plans come up short, Chicago Tribune, Triage blog (September 16, 2008) By Judith Graham.
  

  "Separately, a study by the Tax Policy Center, also released today, estimates that Obama’s plan would provide insurance to an extra 34 million people at a cost of $1.6 trillion over 10 years. McCain’s plan would cost $1.3 trillion, the group said."

• Studies Detail Contrasts in Rivals' Health-Care Plans, The Wall Street Journal (September 16, 2008) By Laura Meckler.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center called its estimates for both plans preliminary because neither campaign has put out enough information to provide a full evaluation."

• McCain-Obama Health Care Debate (Quietly) Rolls On, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire blog (September 16, 2008) By Laura Meckler.
  

  "But that decision is not without consequences either. Because McCain would create a new tax break and not completely get rid of the existing tax breaks, his plan would cost $1.3 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The center predicts it would only cover about 5 million new people with insurance at its peak."

• Journal Disputes McCain’s Health Care Claims, The New York Times, The Caucus blog (September 16, 2008) By Kevin Sack.
  

  "The estimates in Health Affairs are comparable to those made in July by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, which projected that 1 million people would gain coverage after one year under Mr. McCain’s plan, that almost 5 million people would gain coverage after four years, and that the number of uninsured would then creep upward."

• Competing Tax Plans: Two Perspectives, The New York Times, Freakonomics blog (September 16, 2008) By Justin Wolfers.
  

  "For those who prefer to see the raw numbers, the latest Tax Policy Center analysis was released on Friday, and is available here. (Note that the charts above were based on their previous analysis.) More generally, I highly recommend the Tax Policy Center analysis; it is careful, non-partisan, and broadly accepted by professional economists."

• Presidential race: Foes vague on economic fix, The News Sentinel (September 16, 2008).
  

  "The Alaska governor also said Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "wants to raise income taxes and raise payroll taxes and raise investment income taxes and raise business taxes and raise the death tax." In fact, independent groups such as the Tax Policy Center have concluded that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama's proposal, which include higher income and payroll taxes only for the wealthiest wage-earners."

• Locals react to Obama, Palin speeches, The Denver Daily News (September 16, 2008) By Peter Marcus
  

  "Independent groups like the Tax Policy Center have concluded, however, that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama’s proposal, which include higher income and payroll taxes only for the wealthiest wage-earners."

• Highlights of candidates' proposals for economy, The Daily Herald (September 16, 2008).
  

  "Sources include the Brookings Institution, Tax Policy Center, Obama for America and John McCain 2008."

• In GOP's 'storied' tradition, McCain is the latest big liar, The Free Lance-Star (September 16, 2008).
  

  "On Aug. 31, 2008, a Washington Post editorial titled "Continuing deception: Mr. McCain's ads on taxes are just plain false," provided data from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."

• McCain has become a serial liar, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (September 15, 2008) By Tom Teepen.
  

  "No, Obama does not intend to tax everyone. He would limit any income tax increase to households with incomes of more than $250,000. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center finds that Obama's tax plan would cut taxes for 81 percent of all households, 95 percent of households with kids."

• New Evidence on Taxes and Income, The Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2008) By Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore.
  

  "Official tax return data show that in 1983, 19% of returns had zero tax liability; that percentage has climbed steadily, reaching 33% in 2005. (The Tax Policy Center estimates that in 2008 nearly 40% of filers will have no income tax liability.) Thus, we are now statistically counting more poorer families today than we used to. This is a major reason that median and poor household income gains appear to be a lot smaller than they have been in reality."

• The cost and promises of "hope", Chicago Flame (September 15, 2008) By Scott Snyder.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, McCain's planned tax cuts will result in $60 billion less per year in tax revenue. He plans to offset this deficit by balancing the budget. However, it will be extremely difficult to cut that much money out of the national budget."

• Candidates have no plan to turn around budget deficits, The Statesman (September 15, 2008) By Ron Eachus.
  

  "The Brookings Institute's non-partisan Tax Policy Center did a comprehensive analysis of the McCain and Obama tax plans. Basing the analysis on information provided by each campaign's senior staff and on what McCain and Obama actually have said, it is a picture few of us can put together as candidates feed us snippets here and there about what they'd do."

• Comparing the candidates' economic remedies, San Francisco Chronicle (September 15, 2008) By Sam Zuckerman.
  

  "Both are proposing massive tax cuts, and the spending cuts they're talking about don't come remotely close to paying for them," said Howard Gleckman, senior research associate at the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington. "These guys are both making promises they can't possible keep."

• We need to pounce on the bounce, The Times Herald (September 14, 2008)by Gordon Glantz.

  "Moreover, the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center predicts that Obama's plan would lead to a reduction of 18 million uninsured Americans in the first year of his presidency. McCain's plan? Try just one million."

• Editorial: Different plans for spurring economy, Austin American-Statesman (September 14, 2008).
  

  "The difference, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, could be seen in the federal budget deficit. Both plans increase the national debt — Obama's by $2.9 trillion over the next decade and McCain's by $4.2 trillion. Although it is generally believed that the higher tax rates on top earners will slow new investment and job creation, it is also possible that the $1.3 trillion less debt under Obama's proposal would lower interest rates and spur private investment."

• Editorial: Taxes and Social Security, The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 14, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center has calculated that households earning between $37,595 and $66,354 a year would save $1,118 on their taxes annually under Obama's plan. McCain's proposal would save those same families, on average, $325. Obama would provide tax credits to families earning up to $150,000, and eliminate income taxes for seniors who earn less than $50,000."

• Obama fends off McCain attacks, Nashua Telegraph (September 13, 2008) by Kevin Landrigan.
  

  "The Telegraph first reported prior to a McCain visit in June that an independent report from economists with the Tax Policy Center concluded Obama's tax cut would deliver three times the tax relief for families making less than $65,000 a year."

• We are not getting the debate we deserve, The Edmond Sun (September 13, 2008).
  

  "In 2007 we had 45 million uninsured Americans including 8.1 million children. In the next 10 years those numbers are expected to rise dramatically. Obama has a plan that (according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center) would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 34 million people by 2018 and cover almost every child. McCain’s health care plan, however, would barely make a dent in the number of uninsured (again according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center) leaving nearly 70 million Americans without coverage by 2018."

• Obama ratchets up counterattacks on McCain, The Associated Press (September 12, 2008) by Nedra Pickler and Charles Babington.
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center says McCain's proposed corporate tax cuts would total about $231 billion over four years. It says McCain's proposals for individual tax rates "would primarily benefit those with very high incomes." It says many fewer households "at the bottom of the income distribution would get tax cuts, and those tax cuts would be small as a share of after-tax income."

• Lies, damn lies & elections, Philadelphia Daily News (September 12, 2008) by Will Bunch.
  

  "But impartial observers like Philadelphia-based Factcheck.org say the Obama statement was "wrong" on two counts. For one thing, a key part of his plan for closing the budget gap would be a higher tax rate on the wealthiest Americans such as families earning more than $250,000. Also, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says that Obama's plan won't have "every dime" paid for and that it will increase the national debt, albeit not as much as McCain's plan."

• Making it up as they go along, St. Petersburg Times (September 11, 2008) by Robyn E. Blumner.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has analyzed both campaigns' tax plans and found that Obama's would cut taxes for 81.3 percent of all households and for 95.5 percent of households with children."

• No matter how you spin it, candidates' tax plans leave much to be desired, The Retriever Weekly (September 11, 2008) By Doug Manzelmann.
  

  "With the economy in mind, and the fact that two-thirds of it is based on consumer spending, both candidates are stating that they plan to help the average citizen by cutting taxes. John McCain is accusing Barack Obama of raising taxes, and Obama is accusing McCain of favoring the wealthy. A simple look at a detailed study conducted by the Tax Policy Center, an independent research group, reveals that both claims are true to an extent."

• Post's Post-Convention 'Balancing' Act, Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel (September 11, 2008).
  

  "In reality, the Obama tax plan would result in a net tax decrease compared to current tax law for the vast majority of taxpayers--a larger cut than McCain would provide. As a Tax Policy Center analysis (8/25/08) described these differences."

• Be careful in looking at taxes, The Sun (September 11, 2008).
  

  "For more complete and accurate unbiased tax information a person may go online to taxpolicycenter. org. The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. The Center is made up of nationally recognized experts in tax, budget and social policy who have served at the highest levels of government. TPC provides timely, accessible analysis and facts about tax policy to policymakers, journalists, citizens and researchers."

• Editorial: Obama tries to deceive, The Messenger (September 11, 2008).
  

  "Not true, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, operated jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. The center analyzed both candidates' tax cut plans and determined that middle-class taxpayers would gain about 5 percent, or nearly $2,200 a year, through Obama's plan. McCain's would net the same taxpayers about 3 percent, or $1,400 a year. That's a far cry from the difference proclaimed by Obama."

• World According to Larry Summers, Portfolio magazine (September 11, 2008) By Lloyd Grove.
  

  "The three and a half extra trillion dollars that the Tax Policy Center estimates that Senator McCain will issue in debt over a decade will have a very substantial adverse impact on investment and growth and incomes, in my view. I think we've got to have a more focused and a more public approach to assuring health-care availability, so that we're in a position to contain costs. And that's what Senator Obama has advocated."

• Next president faces swelling U.S. debt, The Christian Science Monitor (September 11, 2008) By Gail Russell Chaddock.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion over 2009-2018; the McCain plan would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion."

• Ignorance is bliss for both parties, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 11, 2008) By Brian O'Neill.
  

  "The Brookings Institution-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center says Sen. Barack Obama's tax-reduction plan for small businesses and middle-class families will increase the national debt by $3.5 trillion in 10 years. Sen. John McCain's plan -- which, unlike Mr. Obama's, isn't going to let President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest earners expire -- is said to cost $5 trillion."

• Getting a Grip; Four More Years of "Change", Artvoice (September 10, 2008) By Michael I. Niman.
  

  "Fred Thompson claimed that Obama’s economic proposal would bring about “one of the largest tax increases in American history.” In actuality, Obama’s proposal would restore some taxes charged to families making over a quarter million dollars per year while reducing taxes on middle-class incomes by, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, about $2,200 per family. Under the Obama plan, approximately 81.3 percent of Americans would receive a tax cut, not a tax increase."

• The elusive truth, The Examiner, Progressive Politics Examiner blog (September 10, 2008) By Jay McDonough.
  

  "I watched a Hardball segment in which Reps. Peter King and Debbie Wasserman Schultz were debating whether it’s true, as Rep. Schultz was claiming, that Barack Obama’s proposals would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans or whether it’s true, as Rep. King was claiming, that Obama would raise taxes on 100 million Americans. The host, Chris Matthews, just kind of sat there as the two congressmen yelled at each other. Then he brought the segment to the end, remarked on how heated it was, and how both members of congress talk really quickly. Did he sum up by noting that independent analysis from the Tax Policy Center and even the conservative ideologues at National Review have concluded that Schultz is right and King is wrong? Of course he didn’t. And Matthews is a better-than-average TV host."

• How they differ on taxes, Philadelphia Daily News (September 10, 2008) By Catherine Lucey.
  

  "But are McCain's tax attacks accurate? According to a review by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, middle-income Americans will see tax savings under both candidates. But when you get into the nitty-gritty, they said Obama will provide more tax savings for lower- and middle-income people than McCain."

• Sage columnist gave false, partisan info, Pocono Record (September 10, 2008).
  

  "The entire content of Sage's real estate columnist's article on the presidential candidates' tax policies was lifted from a circulating e-mail that is factually false. The Tax Policy Center, (www.taxpolicycenter.org), a nonpartisan institute, provides an analysis of both candidates' positions."

• Not a fan of Palin, The News and Tribune (September 9, 2008).
  

  "Gov. Palin also accused Sen. Obama of wanting to “increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.” However, The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families."

• Federal deficit soaring, but McCain, Obama offer no answers, Kansas City Star (September 9, 2008) by David Lightman and Kevin Hall.
  

  "However, the Brookings Institution-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center has found that Obama's tax-reduction plan would increase the national debt by $3.5 trillion by 2018. McCain wants to leave existing tax cuts in place rather than let them expire, which the center said would add $5 trillion to the debt."

• So-called 'fact' not really facts, The Sun (September 9, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center gave an opinion what the economic plans would do to the nation. I am sure that other economists would have different opinions as to what the plans would do. Please don't label this a fact."

• Four Minnesota business leaders endorse Obama economic plan, MinnPost.com (September 9, 2008) by Dan Haugen.
  

  "John McCain's economic policy is available at his campaign website. Also, the Tax Policy Center provides an analysis of both candidates tax proposals here."

• Rally time for McCain, Intelligencer Journal (September 9, 2008) by Dave Pidgeon.
  

  "While McCain proposes slashing taxes for all income brackets — the deepest cuts for those making $2.87 million or more — Obama's proposed tax cuts go three times deeper for middle- and low-income earners, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Obama would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans by rolling back the Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 to the levels they were in the 1990s."

• Bailout Hits U.S. Agenda, The Wall Street Journal (September 9, 2008) by Greg Hitt and Nick Timiraos.
  

  "Rudy Penner, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, an economic- and social-policy think tank, said the deficit this year and next will remain "very high." He predicts "there will be a lot of pressure" on the next president to confront the problem, regardless of what has been promised voters this year. "The absolute size is going to be like a cold shower to the next administration," he said."

• On Campaign Trail, Tax Issue Is Simple, and Complex, The Washington Post (September 9, 2008) by Michael D. Shear and Peter Slevin.
  

  "According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Obama and McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for most families. All taxpayers would receive a cut under McCain's plan. Taxes for those who make less than $226,982 would go down under Obama's proposal and they would rise for those who make more than $603,403. Obama would give the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy."

• CNN fails to report impact of McCain and Obama tax plans on deficit, The Sunday Paper, The staff blog (September 8, 2008).
  

  "According to those guys and the Tax Policy Center—the same source Levs used for his segment—neither candidate's plan will reduce the deficit, but Republican John McCain's plan will not increase the deficit as much as Democrat Barack Obama's. Why? Because we can’t significantly cut taxes AND reduce the deficit. Someone has got to pay the tab. Right now, during an economic downturn, most gurus agree that letting the deficit widen is a wise short-term thing to do. We have to spend to stimulate the economy, and we'll have less to spend if we're taxed more."

• Out of bounds: GOP ad misstates Obama's stands, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (September 8, 2008) by David Lightman.
  

  "According to a study by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, "the Obama plan would reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income families, but raise them significantly for high-bracket taxpayers. "By 2012, middle-income taxpayers would see their after-tax income rise by about 5 percent, or nearly $2,200 annually. Those in the top 1 percent would face a $19,000 average tax increase - a 1.5 percent reduction in after-tax income."

• Voters weighing Obama, McCain tax plans, The Christian Science Monitor (September 8, 2008) by Mark Trumbull.
  

  "If the tax cuts substantially raise the national debt, the increase in borrowing by the federal government could crowd out private investment and consumers’ purchases of homes and durable goods, which could slow the economy,” warns a report by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group that strives for neutral analysis of the candidate plans. The report concludes that both Obama and McCain appear set to follow President Bush in this respect: increasing the national debt."

• Rendell: McCain camp misleading on taxes, Central Penn Business Journal (September 8, 2008) by David Dagan.
  

  "Obama in fact would cut taxes for low- and moderate-income families, but raise them for high-income taxpayers, according to a recent report from the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based organization run by two left-leaning think tanks."

• Rendell: McCain camp misleading on taxes, Central Penn Business Journal (September 8, 2008) by David Dagan.
  

  "Obama in fact would cut taxes for low- and moderate-income families, but raise them for high-income taxpayers, according to a recent report from the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based organization run by two left-leaning think tanks."

• McCain's Convenient Untruth, The Washington Post (September 8, 2008) by Sebastian Mallaby.
  

  "Obama is not proposing to raise taxes for most Americans. To the contrary, he would triple the earned-income tax credit for low-wage earners, increasing work incentives at the bottom. He would cut taxes on people in the middle -- indeed, he would do so more aggressively than McCain would. It is only the wealthiest Americans who would face higher tax bills under Obama. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's plan would require the richest 1 percent of Americans to sacrifice a modest 1.5 percent of their after-tax income in 2012. By contrast, no-sacrifice McCain would award America's elite a 9.5 percent increase."

• Obama and McCain have big economic differences, Associated Press (September 8, 2008) by Martin Crutsinger.
  

  "Under Obama, the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers, those making roughly $600,000 or more, would see their taxes go up on average by $93,709 in 2009, according to an analysis done by the Tax Policy Center, because Obama would begin implementing his tax changes even before the scheduled expiration of the Bush cuts."

• Let's examine candidates' tax plans , Evansville Courier and Press (September 8, 2008) by Robert Wuerth.
  

  "The nonpartisan and well-respected Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution did a thorough job analyzing the very specific tax plans of both John McCain and Barack Obama."

• Understanding Refundable Tax Credits, The Wall Street Journal (September 7, 2008) by Tom Herman.
  

  "So why is it called refundable? "If you don't owe any income taxes, you get the credit as a refund," explains Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution."

• Energy, taxes on Congress’ to-do list, Times Record News (September 7, 2008) by Trish Choate.
  

  "About 4 million taxpayers anted up for the alternative minimum tax on 2007 returns according to the Tax Policy Institute, a think tank run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. But 27 million — far more than intended — will owe it for 2008 unless Congress approves a fix."

• Loopholes letting U.S. companies off tax free, Herald-Leader (September 7, 2008) by Bill O'Reilly.
  

  "If you're really clever, you can do it within the letter of the law," says Eric Toder, senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Obama: Recession could delay rescinding tax cuts, Associated Press (September 7, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's tax plan would benefit middle-income taxpayers more than McCain's. However, Obama would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year also would see taxes rise."

• Comparing the McCain and Obama tax plans, The Edmond Sun (September 6, 2008)by Mickey Hepner.
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center recently released an analysis of the tax plans proposed by the two presidential candidates, and the differences are striking. Of the two, McCain is clearly the larger tax cutter. The TPC estimates that the McCain tax plan will reduce tax revenues by more than $4.1 trillion during the next 10 years compared to current law, while Obama’s tax cuts total $2.9 trillion during the next 10 years."

• Editorial: Voters must pressure candidates to spell out costs of varied promises, The News Journal (September 6, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center says both the promises of either candidate will significantly increase the national debt without helping to put a dent in our long-range fiscal problems. With Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain, the nation will still have to fix the growing threat of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs. Even if no new programs are added and no taxes are cut, the country is not prepared to pay for the promises behind each of those programs."

• The Rhetoric and the Reality, The New York Times (September 5, 2008) by Jackie Calmes and Peter Baker.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that Mr. Obama's plan would amount to a tax cut for 81 percent of all households, or 95.5 percent of those with children. The center calculated that by 2012 the Obama plan would let middle-income taxpayers keep about 5 percent more income on average, or nearly $2,200 a year, while Mr. McCain would give them an average 3 percent break, or about $1,400. The richest 1 percent would pay an average $19,000 more in taxes each year under Mr. Obama's plan but see a tax cut of more than $125,000 under Mr. McCain."

• Obama Economic Advisor Goes on Offense Against McCain, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (September 5, 2008) by Michael R. Crittenden.
  

  "Critics say McCain’s plan, on the other hand, would do more to help the wealthy and businesses. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that McCain proposals would cut taxes for the wealthiest 1% in 2012 by an average of $126,902 when compared to current law. He favors reducing the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%, as well as exempting assets under $5 million from the estate tax."

• Campaign 2008: The More Things Change..., Forbes.com (September 5, 2008) by Brian Wingfield.
  

  "How true is it? According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C., Obama would raise taxes on those who make more than $250,000 a year, possibly by as much as 4%, counting payroll tax contributions by workers and employees. And he's proposed raising the maximum capital gains rate from 15% to 20%."

• Editorial: Stirring shows, now let's get specifics, Daily Herald (September 5, 2008).
  

  "We hope to help provide some answers in our publication's news pages in the two months remaining until Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 4. There was much media bashing these past few days, but it will mostly be the journalists who will ask for details at the upcoming debates at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, Thursday, Oct. 2, Tuesday, October 7 and Wednesday, Oct. 15. The candidates' own Web sites also have more specifics and there are nonpartisan think tanks, like The Tax Policy Center or Project Vote Smart, that try to get to the bottom line."

• Fact check: Nominees' speeches, USA Today (September 5, 2008) By Richard Wolf.
  

  "Facts: Both McCain and Obama have proposed substantial tax cuts, at the expense of the federal budget deficit. McCain proposes a $4.2 trillion cut over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Obama proposes $2.9 trillion. It's true that Obama would raise taxes on some high-income taxpayers, while McCain would not."

• Obama, McCain advisers hammer each other on taxes, Finance and Commerce (September 5, 2008) by Charley Shaw.
  

  "Campaign time is a terrible time to really talk about tax policy,” said Leonard Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “There is enormous pressure on both sides to offer things that will make people happy. More goodies, more tax expenditures and to make ridiculous promises that you regret down the road,” Burman said."

• Obama Claims 'Nobody Disputes' Disputed Tax Cut Claim, ABCNews.com, Political Punch blog (September 5, 2008) by Jake Tapper.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center -- a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings, two think tanks – Obama's plan would cut taxes for 81.3 percent of Americans."

• Editorial: The Tax-Cut Frame: Both sides pander, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (September 5, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan National Tax Policy Center last week scored the two candidates' tax plans. "Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next 10 years," the center reported. "Neither candidate's plan would significantly increase economic growth unless offset by spending cuts or tax increases that the campaigns have not specified."

• McCain Budget Plan, Like Obama’s, Draws Criticism From Bipartisan Group, CQ Politics (September 5, 2008).
  

  "Both McCain and Obama have proposed tax cuts that would cost trillions of dollars over 10 years when measured against current law, the method used by Congress for scoring the cost of tax policies. According to an analysis by the Urban Institute/Brookings Tax Policy Center McCain’s proposals would cost $4.2 trillion over 10 years while Obama’s would cost $2.9 trillion during that time."

• Editorial: Stirring shows, now let's get specifics, Daily Herald (September 5, 2008).
  

  "We hope to help provide some answers in our publication's news pages in the two months remaining until Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 4. There was much media bashing these past few days, but it will mostly be the journalists who will ask for details at the upcoming debates at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, Thursday, Oct. 2, Tuesday, October 7 and Wednesday, Oct. 15. The candidates' own Web sites also have more specifics and there are nonpartisan think tanks, like The Tax Policy Center or Project Vote Smart, that try to get to the bottom line."

• Our View: Will Palin's performance upstage McCain's?, Peoria Journal Star (September 5, 2008).
  

  "Meanwhile, she said "taxes are too high ... (Obama) wants to raise them ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars." A recent analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says Palin is wrong about that, that Obama's plan actually would reduce taxes, by a larger amount for more Americans, than McCain's would."

• "Economic Choices '2008"-The McCain Economic Plan, PBS, Nightly Business Report (September 4, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center figures McCain's business and investment tax cuts would cost more than $1.2 trillion over 10 years, far more than any spending cuts that are likely to be enacted, which means the country would go even deeper into debt. When he adds it all up, the American Enterprise Institute's Alan Viard is lukewarm on the McCain plan."

• "Decoding Obama's tax claim, CNNMoney.com (September 4, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, in a preliminary analysis of McCain's health plan, said the credits are larger than the current premiums for the most generous group health plans. So initially it may be a break for many. But over time, experts say, the value of that credit will go down since it's not likely to keep pace with the rising health care costs."

• "Reality Check: Barack Obama Ad: "Same", KTVN (September 4, 2008) by Tom Henkenius.
  

  "According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center under Obama's plan the top 1% would face a $19,000 average tax increase. McCain's plan would lower their taxes by $125,000 on average."

• Corporate Tax Policy, Budget Deficits and Capital Stock in a Neoclassical Model of Investment, SeekingAlpha.com (September 4, 2008)By Menzie Chinn.
  

  "As noted in a previous post, the McCain and Obama campaigns have many different components. The McCain tax plan involves a series of tax reductions aimed at lowering the cost of capital facing firms, with the aim at spurring investment; and as Jim pointed out, investment is a key determinant in our future prosperity. On the other hand, one particularly substantial difference with the Obama plan is that, as scored by the respective campaigns' officials and tabulated by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the McCain tax plan involves a $1.3 trillion larger cumulative budget deficit over FY2009-2018. This suggests to me countervailing effects from implementing a McCain tax policy."

• Economic advisers for McCain, Obama in tax gap smackdown, Financial Week (September 4, 2008)By Nicholas Rummell.
  

  "If you listen to the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, however, both campaigns will reduce the federal treasury’s purse. The difference is by how much. According to the center’s director, Len Burman, the Obama plan would reduce revenue by $2.9 trillion over ten years, whereas the McCain plan would reduce revenue by $4.2 trillion."

• McCain hopes to highlight economic strengths, MSNBC.com (September 4, 2008)By John W. Schoen.
  

  "Both candidates are vowing to pay for any proposed new programs by closing tax loopholes, though they differ on which ones. But both fail the math test in balancing the budget, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• Palin ready for 'tough fight', The Times (September 4, 2008).
  

  "THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded."

• n speech, McCain says he is the 'change' candidate, CTV.ca (September 4, 2008).
  

  "McCain touted his tax cuts and repeatedly said that Obama would raise taxes, as Palin did in her speech. In reality however, the Tax Policy Center, which is run by two non-partisan think tanks, found that Obama will actually increase overall after-tax incomes for most Americans."

• Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention, Associated Press (September 4, 2008) by Jim Kuhnhenn.
  

  "THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded."

• McCain, Obama: 2 views on taxes, The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 4, 2008) by Laurence Seidman.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center - a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution in Washington - issued a detailed report last month analyzing the tax plans of the two candidates."

• Pete McMartin: Palin is plucky, takes no guff and her policy's, er, crap, The Vancouver Sun (September 4, 2008) by Pete McMartin.
  

  "Again, from the Associated Press: "The Tax Policy Center, a think-tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about five per cent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by three per cent, the center concluded."

• Real Life Politics live chat, The Washington Post (September 3, 2008) by Ruth Marcus.
  

  "The facts? The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that the Obama plan would give households in the bottom fifth of the income distribution an average tax cut of 5.5 percent of income ($567) in 2009, while those in the middle fifth would get an average cut of 2.6 percent of income ($1,118). "Your taxes" would go up, yes -- but not if you're someone who is sweating higher gas prices. By contrast, Mr. McCain's tax plan would give those in the bottom fifth of income an average tax cut of $21 in 2009. The middle fifth would get $325 -- less than a third of the Obama cut. The wealthiest taxpayers make out terrifically."

• The Candidates on Taxes: Finding the Devil in the Details, Knowledge@Wharton (September 3, 2008).
  

  "McCain would cut overall income taxes for the top 1% of American earners, according to recent data from the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Obama would raise taxes on those in the highest tax bracket, while reducing them for low- and moderate-income families."

• Businesswomen praise McCain on economics, The Washington Post (September 3, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded."

• Why Obama Can't Close the Sale, The Wall Street Journal (September 3, 2008) by Al Hubbard and Noam Neusner.
  

  "Mr. Obama claims to offer a tax cut to moderate-income families, but a significant portion of Mr. Obama's tax plan is a welfare giveaway costing more than $648 billion over 10 years, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• Fact Check: Checking the GOP's speakers, Associated Press (September 3, 2008) by Jim Kuhnhenn.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded."

• CongressNow: Hill Democrats See Target in McCain Tax Plan, Roll Call (September 3, 2008) by Jay Heflin.
  

  "Add in McCain’s desire to cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and to allow businesses to write off machinery and equipment purchases, and the cost of his plan skyrockets to more than $5 trillion by 2018, according to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center that based calculations on figures from the JCT and the CBO."

• Extending JGTRRA & EGTRRA Under the CBO's March 2008 Baseline, SeekingAlpha.com (September 2, 2008) by Menzie Chinn.
  

  "One can see a more comprehensive examination based upon what the staffs or speeches indicate in a Tax Policy Center analysis (the Tax Policy Center is a joint Urban Institute-Brookings Institution center). That analysis highlights the difficulty of doing an independent scoring of the many other provisions both McCain and Obama have forwarded."

• My View: Land holdings, taxation a key to economic justice, Gloucester Daily Times (September 2, 2008) by Carmine Gorga.
  

  "Just to give you a sense of who we're talking about: the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that this year the 99th percentile will correspond to an income of $402,306, and the 99.9th percentile to an income of $1,672,726. The center doesn't give a number for the 99.99th percentile, but it's probably well over $6 million a year."

• The GOP Convention’s Wonkish Side, CQ Politics (September 2, 2008) by Bart Jansen.
  

  "A Sept. 4 seminar on taxes will feature Leonard Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center; Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and a senior adviser to Democratic nominee Barack Obama; and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and senior adviser to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain."

• Obama the Tax Cutter, The Virginian Pilot (September 2, 2008).
  

  "An analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center lays out the simple facts that debunk the old liberal tax myth. Keep in mind that the average per capita income is between $46,000 and $50,000 per year. So that means that under Barack Obama, the tax bill would go down $1,042, while under John McCain, the savings would be $319."

• Would Trickle-Down Policies Really Help All Americans?, SeekingAlpha.com (September 2, 2008) by Mark Thoma.
  

  "FACT: According to the Tax Policy Center, “although this provision is sometimes described as a doubling of the personal exemption, that is true only in the first year, and then only for lower-income married couples,” leaving everyone else out. Every other family’s exemption is not fully phased in until 2016, and “because it is not refundable, it is worth nothing to poor families and little to many in the working-class.” Over 100 million families receive no tax cut under McCain’s plan."

• To Inform the Voters, BusinessJournalism.org (September 2, 2008) by Andre Jackson.
  

  "Lastly, it might surprise many to know that, for all the finger-pointing, both Sens. McCain and Obama have offered up tax plans that would “substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years,” according to an analysis by The Tax Policy Center. The center goes on to state that “neither candidate’s plan would significantly increase economic growth unless offset by spending cuts or tax increases …” That similarity of trillion-dollar shortfalls might shock many readers."

• Small Business Looks at Where Candidates Fall on Its Issues, The Wall Street Journal (September 2, 2008) by Simona Covel and Raymund Flandez.
  

  "But only a small percentage of small-business owners take home $250,000 per year, experts say. Only 1.4% of small-business owners would be affected, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution."

• McCain or Obama: Who Deserves the Small Business Vote?, The Wall Street Journal, Independent Street blog (September 2, 2008) by Kelly Spors.
  

  "Taxes: The lobbyists want President Bush’s tax cuts to be permanent, which Sen. McCain supports. Sen. Obama would only extend the cuts for households earning less than $250,000 annually. The Tax Policy Center points out that only 1.4% of small-business owners earn more than $250,000 annually, meaning the vast majority would still benefit from the tax cuts. Yet those with more than $250,000 in earnings tend to be high-growth businesses that employ many people, so raising their taxes could stymie that growth, the National Small Business Association’s Todd McCracken says."

August

• Voters must closely scrutinize candidates’ economic stances, Citizen-Times (Asheville, N.C.) (August 31, 2008).
  

  "In a recent analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution of the tax plans put forth by the two campaigns, both Obama and McCain are proposing plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Under Obama’s those who make the least would get the biggest cuts. McCain’s plan gives the largest cuts to the very wealthy. Under McCain’s plan, those earning $18,000 would get a .2 percent cut while those earning above $2.87 million would get a 4.4 percent cut."

• Sen. McCain is blissfully out of touch, The Forum (August 31, 2008).
  

  "This $5 million threshold and McCain’s inability to comprehend the economic realities facing our country are reflected in his tax and energy plans. The most comprehensive nonpartisan analysis of the candidates’ respective tax proposals, conducted by the Tax Policy Center, supports Barack Obama’s claim that his plan will not increase your taxes – that is, unless you earn $169,480-$237,040. If you’re in this bracket, then you’d pay roughly $486 more in taxes. For all of us under $169,480 of taxable income, we’d benefit from a tax cut under Obama’s plan."

• Sunday Reading, The Fayetteville Observer (August 31, 2008) By Donna Mansfield.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. The Center is made up of nationally recognized experts in tax, budget, and social policy who have served at the highest levels of government."

• U-M economics professor to participate in panel discussion on tax policy at convention, The Ann Arbor News (August 31, 2008) By Art Aisner.
  

  "It is hosted by the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, where Slemrod taught before coming to U-M in 1987. Also on the panel is Leonard Burman, one of Slemrod's former students and director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, an event co-sponsor."

• Voters must closely scrutinize candidates’ economic stances, Citizen-Times (Asheville, N.C.) (August 31, 2008).
  

  "In a recent analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution of the tax plans put forth by the two campaigns, both Obama and McCain are proposing plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Under Obama’s those who make the least would get the biggest cuts. McCain’s plan gives the largest cuts to the very wealthy. Under McCain’s plan, those earning $18,000 would get a .2 percent cut while those earning above $2.87 million would get a 4.4 percent cut."

• Editorial: Continuing Deception, The Washington Post (August 31, 2008).
  

  "The facts? The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that the Obama plan would give households in the bottom fifth of the income distribution an average tax cut of 5.5 percent of income ($567) in 2009, while those in the middle fifth would get an average cut of 2.6 percent of income ($1,118). "Your taxes" would go up, yes -- but not if you're someone who is sweating higher gas prices. By contrast, Mr. McCain's tax plan would give those in the bottom fifth of income an average tax cut of $21 in 2009. The middle fifth would get $325 -- less than a third of the Obama cut. The wealthiest taxpayers make out terrifically."

• Anxiety Over the Economy Tops Obama's Agenda, The Wall Street Journal (August 30, 2008) by Gerald F. Seib and Bob Davis.
  

  "He said he would cut taxes for "95% of all working families," which he would accomplish through refundable tax credits of as much as $500 a person and a host of other measures. But the formulation left out many retirees on Social Security who don't pay income tax and thus don't get any tax cuts, as well as some low-income individuals, says Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank."

• Looking At the 5% Who Won't Get Obama Tax Cut, NPR, All Things Considered (August 29, 2008).
  

  "Len Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, says the other 5 percent includes the top two tax brackets."

• Obama would fight for veterans, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (August 29, 2008).
  

  "Who would fight for Americans, Obama or McCain? In a book titled, ''Unequal Democracy,'' Princeton University professor Larry Bartels explains that research shows middle class wages grow under Democrats. According to The Tax Policy Center, under Obama, 90 percent of Americans would pay less taxes than they would under McCain. McCain's tax plan benefits those in the top income bracket while Obama's plan benefits those in the lower bracket."

• Would Obama's Healthcare Plan Cover More Uninsured Americans?, U.S. News and World Report (August 29, 2008) by Michelle Andrews .
  

  "The Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution have come up with a "very, very, very preliminary" estimate for the number of uninsured Americans who would be covered by John McCain's and Barack Obama's respective healthcare reform plans."

• Deficit Hawks Rain on Obama’s Parade, CQ Politics (August 29, 2008) by David Clarke.
  

  "Other groups have been tallying up the cost of the candidate’s proposals. The Urban Institute/Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that Obama’s tax policies would cost $2.9 trillion over 10 years, while McCain’s would cost $4.2 trillion. McCain plans to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts (PL 107-16, PL 108-27), while Obama would allow breaks for the wealthiest Americans to expire."

• Analysis: Democrat's vision for future may be easier said than done, Associated Press (August 29, 2008) by Jim Drinkard.
  

  "The problem: Obama's tax proposals come with a hefty price tag. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint effort of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates that Obama's tax proposals would reduce projected tax revenue by $2.95 trillion over the next decade."

• Obama Would Help Cut Number Of Uninsured Americans , dbTechno.com (August 28, 2008).
  

  "A new report released by researchers at the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution has shown which candidate would do best to cut the number of uninsured Americans."

• Economic Choices 2008 , PBS, Nightly Business Report (August 28, 2008).
  

  "But like so many things in this presidential campaign, the details are hard to pin down. The Obama campaign also says small businesses won't pay capital gains, but tax expert Len Burman says Obama has never defined what he considers a small business to be. Burman says the lack of specifics is a problem with many Obama proposals."

• In Swing-State Tour, Democrats To Target Economy , NPR, All Things Considered (August 28, 2008) by Scott Horsley .
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington D.C., 80 percent of American families would do better under Obama's tax plan. Only the wealthiest 20 percent would pad their pocketbooks more under McCain's proposal. Nevertheless, McCain told an audience last month in Racine, Wis., that the benefits of his tax cuts would, in effect, trickle down."

• Letter: Support for Obama’s programs , The Advocate (La.) (August 28, 2008).
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama’s plan would increase the income of middle-income people by 5 percent while increasing the taxes of the superwealthy by only 1 percent to 2 percent."

• Obama adviser talks trade: 'Protectionist' label inaccurate, economist tells Denver chamber, Rocky Mountain News (August 28, 2008) by David Milstead.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture from the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institute, says both the Obama and McCain tax plans would increase the national debt by billions of dollars over the next 10 years, and "neither candidate's plan would significantly increase economic growth unless offset by spending cuts or tax increases that the campaigns have not specified."

• Editorial: Getting acquainted, The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus (August 28, 2008) by Julie Satow.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, a research group, tax cuts proposed by McCain would provide an average net savings of $200 for the bottom 80 percent of earners — those earning under $118,000 a year. Obama's tax cuts would provide savings of $900 for the same group."

• Bush Tax Cuts Increased Tax Base, Study Says, The New York Sun (August 28, 2008) by Julie Satow.
  

  "The conservative estimate we use for budget purposes comes from the Tax Policy Center, and it does take into consideration some elasticity," Mr. Furman said."

• Editorial: Getting acquainted , Rutland Herald (August 27, 2008).
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, a research group, tax cuts proposed by McCain would provide an average net savings of $200 for the bottom 80 percent of earners — those earning under $118,000 a year. Obama's tax cuts would provide savings of $900 for the same group."

• McCain Changes Tack on Taxes, Wall Street Journal “Real Time Economics” blog (August 27, 2008) by Martin Vaughan.
  

  "In the most detailed analysis to date of the candidates’ tax proposals, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that McCain proposals would cut taxes for the wealthiest 1% in 2012 by an average of $126,902, or 6.4%, compared to current law. That compares to an average of 3.7% tax cut across all income levels, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis."

• Our Inequality of Outcomes, The Washington Post (August 27, 2008) by Steven Pearlstein.
  

  "The latest version of that strategy is given voice in Barack Obama's tax plan, which would not only keep most of the Bush tax cuts for working-, middle and upper-middle-class families, but add a few more of his own. At the same time, Democrats vow to restore the inheritance tax on large estates and raise taxes on those with incomes above $250,000. According to the latest analysis prepared by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's plan would raise after-tax incomes from present levels for the 80 percent of households at the bottom of the income scale -- anywhere from 5.4 percent, on average, for households with incomes below $20,000, to 1 percent for households with incomes below $120,000. By contrast, after-tax income would decline by 2 percent, on average, for households with incomes above $240,000, 8 percent for those above $620,000 and 10.2 percent for those above $2.8 million."

• Worried about Obama? Don't sell off your hot stocks yet, Detroit Free Press (August 27, 2008) by Susan Tompor.
  

  "There are no details yet on who would qualify, according to Roberton Williams, principal research associate for the Tax Policy Center, an independent think tank in Washington, D.C."

• Meet the Joneses, Part I: Taxes, ABC News, Good Morning America (August 27, 2008) by Chris Strathman and Lee Ferran.
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, that is true. If Obama's plan is enacted, the Joneses stand to save about $1,300, or half of their tax bill. What remains to be seen, however, is how Obama would fund such a policy, said Robertson Williams of the Tax Policy Center. "His proposed cuts in spending would not be enough to offset his reduction in revenue. He'd likely make the deficit worse than it currently is," Williams said."

• Obama's Plan Wins at Covering the Uninsured, US News “On Health & Money” blog (August 27, 2008) by Michelle Andrews.
  

  "The Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution have come up with an estimate. The numbers are "very, very, very preliminary," cautions Roberton Williams, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute who is one of the study's authors. Researchers will come up with a more complete analysis next month."

• GOP continues their lies about Obama and taxes, The Greene County Dailies (August 26, 2008) by Jack LeMoult.
  

  "An analysis of both campaigns’ proposals by the Washington-based, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that for people with annual incomes above $603,000, Obama would raise taxes by more than $115,000 a year, while McCain would cut them by $45,000."

• When N.Y.’s governor speaks, Barack should listen, New York Daily News (August 26, 2008) by Bill Hammond.
  

  "Meanwhile, the two are proposing tax cuts that would foist the tab onto future generations. The Urban Institute estimates that McCain's tax plan would add $1.4 trillion to the national debt over the next five years, and Obama's would add $1 trillion."

• Both Tax Plans Will Add to the Deficit -- And Our Problems, The Huffington Post (August 26, 2008) by Hale "Bonddad" Stewart.
  

  "For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Tax Policy Center, it is a joint effort by the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. They have consistently done very good policy work."

• McCain brings nothing new to the table , The Southtown Star (Tinley Park, Ill) (August 26, 2008) by Marlene Lang.
  

  "Luckily, the independent Tax Policy Center provides handy charts and other info. Seems McCain cuts a little bit for almost everybody except the very wealthy, who get whopper breaks. Obama's cuts mostly help the po' folk."

• Shaky Economy Challenges Ambitious Obama Agenda , The Wall Street Journal (August 26, 2008) by Bob Davis and T.W. Farnam.
  

  "Sen. Obama would raise the top two tax rates to 36% from 33% for married couples with taxable income of more than $165,000, and to 39.6% from 35% for those couples with taxable income of more than $357,000, says Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. In addition, under Sen. Obama, the tax on capital gains would increase to 20% from 15% for wealthier taxpayers."

• President Bush and Dick Cheney: Closet liberals? , Los Angeles Times, Countdown to Crawford blog (August 26, 2008) by James Gerstenzang.
  

  "Here's another pair of numbers to paint into the picture: Under Bush, total government spending grew from 18.4% of GDP in 2000 to 20.3% in 2006, the magazine reported, quoting the Tax Policy Institute run by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Tax Foundation: Obama tax analysis was no hit job , The Baltimore Sun, Jay Hancock’s blog (August 25, 2008) by Jay Hancock.
  

  "That's why the Tax Policy Center at Brookings/Urban has been using it in their estimates of the plan's cost: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411741_updated_candidates.pdf. That $5 billion dollar cost estimate for the seniors' exemption would be much larger if a senior making $75,000 were only going to have to pay tax on the last $25,000 he earned. He won't -- he'll be paying on all $75,000. Also, you can tell by Jason Furman's reaction to Mark's piece that the cliff interpretation was correct -- they've rushed out a new "estimate" of the additional cost of the phase-out, $2 billion."

• Dueling Visions , Barron's (August 25, 2008) by Jim McTague.
  

  "Whichever concept prevails will have profound implications for the economy over the next decade. And, if Obama's plan prevails, it could well be for the worse. While both candidates' proposals have their pros and cons, Obama's appears to have a few too many cons. There's no question about that if you happen to be in the top 1% of income-tax payers. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the Obama plan would boost the average tax bill for that group by $93,709, to $652,890. McCain's plan would reduce that group's average by $48,862 to $510,319."

• Campaigns for president heat up , Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pa.) (August 25, 2008) by Dave Pidgeon.
  

  "According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center published by the Washington Post, the most telling difference between Obama and McCain on tax policies has to do with the wealthiest American families."

• How Obama Reconciles Dueling Views on Economy , The New York Times Magazine (August 24, 2008) by David Leonhardt.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a research group run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has done the most detailed analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans, and it has published a series of fascinating tables. For the bottom 80 percent of the population — those households making $118,000 or less — McCain’s various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama’s proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign."

• Weatherball in D.C. better economic predictor , The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.) (August 24, 2008).
  

  "Congress has been an all-too-willing accomplice in this bankrupting of America. Its spendthrift ways are enough to make a drunken sailor blush, and whether the next president is Barack Obama or John McCain, it appears red ink will continue to run neck deep in the nation's capital. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt during the next decade while McCain's tax plan is even more derelict. It will add $5 trillion."

• Taxes, the candidates, and the American rich , Desert Dispatch (Barstow, Calif.) (August 24, 2008) by Carol Jensen.
  

  "Both McCain and Obama have tax plans they plan to implement if they become president, but they differ greatly. The Tax Policy Center states that “Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households."

• The Rise of Fantasy Politics , Newsweek (August 23, 2008) by Robert J. Samuelson.
  

  "The most exhaustive examination of the McCain and Obama budget proposals I've found comes from the Tax Policy Center, sponsored jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. It's discouraging reading. Though details differ, neither plan would realistically limit spending or eliminate deficits. This is especially true when the Obama and McCain health proposals are considered. Both would cost far more than $1 trillion over a decade, says the Tax Policy Center."

• Man with a plan , The Washington Times (August 22, 2008).
  

  "A cash infusion 10 years from now makes sense," said Roberton Williams, a principal research associate for the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington. Implementing the Social Security tax increase earlier would enable Congress and the president to spend the extra funds on other programs, he explained."

• Editorial: Obama Not Candid On Taxes, Income , The News-Register (August 22, 2008).
  

  "Not true, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, operated jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. The center analyzed both candidates' tax cut plans and determined that middle-class taxpayers would gain about 5 percent, or nearly $2,200 a year, through Obama's plan. McCain's would net the same taxpayers about 3 percent, or $1,400 a year. That's a far cry from the difference proclaimed by Obama."

• Obama vs. the Bond Market Vigilantes , U.S. News & World Report, Capital Commerce blog (August 22, 2008) by James Pethokoukis.
  

  "This from the Tax Policy Center: Under either Senator Obama's or Senator McCain's plan, however, the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years, even under the CBO's relatively optimistic assumptions about spending. Senator Obama's plan would add $3.5 trillion to the national debt (including additional interest costs) while Senator McCain's plan would add $5.0 trillion."

• Obama adjusts ad strategy during convention , Associated Press (August 22, 2008) by Jim Kuhnhenn.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a left-of-center think tank affiliated with the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households while raising taxes on high-income taxpayers. The center's analysis found that McCain would cut taxes across the board and give the biggest cuts to the highest-income households."

• Now That’s Rich , The New York Times (August 22, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  

  "According to estimates prepared by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, those Obama tax increases would fall overwhelmingly on people with incomes of more than $200,000 a year. Are such people rich? Well, maybe not: some of those Mr. Obama proposes taxing are only denizens of lower Richistan, although the really big tax increases would fall on upper Richistan. But one thing’s for sure: Mr. Obama isn’t planning to raise taxes on the middle class, by any reasonable definition — even that of the Bush administration."

• Editorial: Obama's Tax Hike , Investor’s Business Daily (August 22, 2008).
  

  "His plan would raise taxes by $627 billion over 10 years, based on likely assumptions, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the liberal Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Alan Viard, resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, claims the Obama plan would jar growth."

• Obama Wants To Shift Tax Burden To Rich , Investor’s Business Daily (August 22, 2008) by David Hogberg.
  

  "Using data from the Brookings Institution's and Urban Institute's joint Tax Policy Center, Brill and Viard considered the Obama plan's effect on a two-earner couple with one child in college and another age 12 or younger. Their marginal tax rates are between 34% and 39% in the $31,000 to $45,000 income range — a 13 percentage point or more increase from current rates."

• Political Economy: Reality Check — Part I , CQ Politics (August 21, 2008) by John Cranford.
  

  "On top of the spending proposals, Obama’s tax plan by itself would raise the federal debt by $3.5 trillion — or by roughly a third — over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center run by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. And that calculation takes into account his proposal to increase taxes on those he calls rich."

• McCain, Obama Plans Differ Little In Deficit Impact - Study , Dow Jones Newswires (August 21, 2008) by Martin Vaughan.
  

  "The group released what it billed as a "Fiscal Voter Guide to the 2008 Election" Thursday. Besides healthcare and energy, the report includes budget estimates for tax proposals and other spending proposals, including defense. The estimates were computed based on information provided by the campaigns, and nonpartisan sources including the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center."

• McCain and Obama tax plans diverge on wealth , Los Angeles Times (August 21, 2008) by Stephen Braun.
  

  "The real fault lines are over how to treat people in the highest tax brackets. It gets to the heart of their economic philosophies," said Leonard E. Burman, a senior fellow with the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan Washington-based tax reform group that has questioned the details of both tax plans."

• Editorial: After midsummer's silliness, a purpose-driven campaign? , USA Today (August 20, 2008)
  

  "In fact, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center concluded that both candidates' tax proposals would swell the federal budget deficit, which desperately needs to be brought down. McCain's plan, largely a continuation of the Bush tax cuts, would add $5 trillion of debt over the next decade. Obama's plan — which would hike taxes for upper-income workers, while lowering or maintaining current taxes further down the income ladder — would tack on $3.5 trillion in borrowing."

• U.S. corporate tax policy in need of overhaul, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 19, 2008) by David Nicklaus.
  

  "The outrage dissipates, in fact, when one reads the numbers carefully. Why do two-thirds of companies pay no taxes? A lot of them are small and, according to Eric Toder of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, "they aren't what you think of as corporations with a separation of ownership and control." In many small businesses, the owner draws just enough salary to make sure most taxes are incurred at the individual level, not the corporate one."

• Health Care: The Real Fiscal Nightmare, BusinessWeek Online (Yahoo! News) (August 19, 2008) by Chris Farrell.
  

  "Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, captured the key difference between the two candidates at a July 23 conference, Dueling Tax Plans: What Would McCain and Obama Do? "So the major themes of these two plans are, in the case of Senator McCain's plan, that the major emphasis is on economic efficiency -- cuts in marginal tax rates, improves economic incentives," said Berman in his opening remarks. "In the case of Obama's plan, the goal is primarily to improve progressivity -- to lower tax burdens on low-income people and raise them on higher-income people," he added. The rest is nuance."

• Taxes: You Pay More Than You Know, U.S. News and World Report, Capital Commerce blog (August 19, 2008) by James Pethokoukis.
  

  "The U.S. corporate tax, the second highest on the planet, is a hidden tax where workers end up paying 70 percent of it. It's also a tax with no economic justification on efficiency grounds. So, why are some left-of-center folks so enamored with it? Simple: It's a nearly $400 billion a year tax that most folks are unaware of. So, what if we killed the corporate tax for competitiveness reasons and just raised income and investment taxes, essentially getting rid of the double taxation issue? (Profits are taxed at the corporate level and again as dividends.) Look at this bit of static analysis (it assumes no impact of taxes on economic growth) from the folks at the Tax Policy Center."

• What’s at stake, The New York Times, The Conscience of a Liberal blog (August 18, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  

  "The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, which does careful, nonpartisan analysis of tax policy (duh) — the kind of thing the Treasury dept used to do until Bush turned it into a branch of Minitrue — is an invaluable resource. Their new executive summary of the candidates’ tax plans, from which this chart is taken, tells you more, in 6 pages, than you’ll get from a hundred hours of talking heads — mine included."

• Saddleback Bloopers, Factcheck.org (August 18, 2008) by Brooks Jackson.
  

  "Getting his own "tax credit" wrong: McCain was badly wrong in what he said about the child "tax credit." The current child tax credit is $1,000, and McCain is not proposing any increase at all. What McCain actually is proposing is a gradual increase in the $3,500 exemption for each dependent child, starting in 2010 and increasing $500 each year until it reaches $7,000 in 2016. On his Web site McCain describes this as a "doubling" of the exemption, but even that is misleading. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the exemption is expected to go up to $4,200 per child in that time period under current law, which calls for annual adjustments for inflation."

• Who's rich? McCain and Obama have very different definitions, Los Angeles Times (August 18, 2008) by Greg Miller.
  

  "The Illinois Democrat has proposed tax hikes on individuals with incomes exceeding $250,000, while the Arizona Republican has declared his intention to extend the tax cuts begun by President Bush and make new cuts to corporate tax rates -- both moves that would benefit the very wealthy. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center has calculated that the middle-income earners would get a $325 tax cut from McCain's proposed changes to the tax code, while the top 20% would have their taxes reduced by $6,500."

• Money managers size up post-election economy, MarketWatch (August 17, 2008) by Sam Mamudi.
  

  "And it's likely the deficit will only increase under a new administration -- the Tax Policy Center estimates that under Obama's plans tax revenues will reach 18.3% of GDP in the next decade, while McCain's plans will bring in 17.6% of GDP. But even at current levels, spending will account for 19.7% of GDP. The difference of 1%-2% doesn't sound like much, but GDP over the next 10 years will amount to $185 trillion."

• Editorial: Candidates should shift message to paying off IOUs, The Tennesseean (August 17, 2008).
  

  "Second, both leading candidates for the White House need to revise their campaign promises to avoid digging a deeper budget hole. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, McCain's promised tax cuts would cost $4.2 trillion, and Obama's $2.8 trillion, over the next 10 years. Neither has specified spending cuts that would reduce the deficit, USA Today said."

• Editorial: Corporations: Ducking the IRS, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 15, 2008).
  

  "If you're really clever, you can do it within the letter of the law," says Eric Toder, senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Obama Details Raising Taxes on Gains, Dividends, The Wall Street Journal (August 15, 2008) by Deborah Solomon.
  

  "Bob Williams of the Tax Policy Center, an independent think tank in Washington, said there is no evidence that a higher capital-gains tax rate impacts long-term behavior. The biggest impact, he said, is over the short term, when investors try to realize gains before the increase goes into effect."

• Obama Pulls Back on Social Security Plan, The New York Times, The Caucus blog (August 15, 2008) by Larry Rohter.
  

  “The thing about a doughnut hole is that it is empty,” Howard Gleckman, editor of TaxVox, the blog of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, wrote Thursday. “There is nothing. And that, it seems, is what is left of Barack Obama’s plan to fix Social Security.” He added: “Make no mistake, what Obama is really saying is that, at least for the campaign, he is walking away from Social Security and all of its problems."

• Increased Taxes in Pennsylvania Ignite Another Whiskey Rebellion, The Wall Street Journal (August 15, 2008) by Clare Ansberry.
  

  "Kim Rueben, an economist at the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, says she suspects these taxes are facing strong and sustained resistance because other consumer prices and costs are rising. "People feel besieged," says Ms. Rueben. "As property values go down, we're going to see more local governments needing to raise money and meeting more resistance."

• Obama Signals 10-Year Delay In Social Security Tax Increase, Dow Jones Newswires (August 15, 2008) by Martin Vaughan.
  

  "The Urban Institute's Roberton Williams said the answer to that question could have a substantial impact on the tax bill for wealthy Americans."

• Texas' sales-tax holiday is today through Sunday, Star-Telegram (August 15, 2008) by John Austin.
  

  "Sixteen states and the District of Columbia offer some sort of tax holiday, said Kim Rueben, a public finance economist at the Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C."

• Obama's tax plan: what could be clearer?, The Atlantic Online (August 15, 2008) by Clive Crook.
  

  "Good to have that confirmed. Three weeks ago, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (which produces the most authoritative independent appraisals of the campaigns' fiscal proposals) used new rates of 25%, not 20%, to calculate the numbers most of us have been using lately. It had inferred those tax rates from the Obama campaign's statements and revenue projections."

• Truth-testing Obama's tax plan, Marketplace (August 14, 2008).
  

  "Eric Toder of the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says Goolsbee's right -- the Obama plan would reduce the deficit, but not if you assume the Bush tax cuts would expire, and Congress hasn't yet figured out a way to pay to extend them."

• Obama Proposals Would Tilt Tax Code to Self-Employed, Wage Earners, Allbusiness.com (August 14, 2008).
  

  "In last week's column, the first in this series, I gave a broad overview of the two candidates' proposals. Most of the data is contained in a new report by the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. It provides the best analysis yet of the candidates' respective positions. As the study pointedly notes, tax and fiscal policy will loom large in the next president's domestic policy agenda. This week's column takes a closer look at Democrat Obama's proposals. Next week, I will do the same for Republican McCain's proposals. As Deep Throat advised, we'll try to follow the money."

• FACTBOX-McCain, Obama on taxes and fiscal spending, Reuters (August 14, 2008).
  

  "McCain: According to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of Washington-based think tanks The Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, McCain's tax and health care plans would reduce federal tax revenues by $4.2 trillion over the 2009-18 period compared with current law, under which the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 and the AMT remains in full force. Compared to a "baseline" scenario that assumes extension of the Bush tax cuts and extension of an indexed AMT "patch," McCain's plan would reduce revenues by $600 billion for the 10-year period. Including interest, the McCain plan would increase the national debt by $5 trillion by 2018."

• Obama's 'no income taxes on seniors' draws critics, The Associated Press (August 12, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, gave the idea bad grades in a recent study of the two presidential candidates' tax plans."

• Many Firms Didn't Pay Taxes, The Washington Post (August 12, 2008).
  

  "Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said the vast majority of corporations are small businesses and start-ups that have adopted a corporate structure that allows them to lower their tax bills."

• Obama ad tags McCain as 'Washington celebrity', USA Today( August 12, 2008).
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center says McCain's plans would "primarily benefit those with very high incomes," while Obama would raise taxes "significantly" on that group. Obama would give larger tax breaks to lower-income groups than McCain, according to the center, a project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• The Great Corporate Tax Heist, The Huffington Post (August 12, 2008).
  

  "Yet the core of McCain economic agenda consists of breath-taking corporate tax breaks. He calls for cutting the top corporate rate from 35% to 25% and allowing corporations to write off investments in the first year. Combined, the Tax Policy Center wonks cost these at over $1.3 trillion over 10 years. Len Burman of Tax Policy Center estimates that in total, McCain would cut corporate revenues by about 50% from current levels. They'll be making hundreds of millions of dollars and not paying taxes. This is no joke."

• Report: Many Companies Able to Avoid Paying U.S. Income Taxes, Online NewsHour (August 12, 2008).
  

  "Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said the vast majority of corporations are small businesses and start-ups that have adopted a corporate structure that allows them to lower their tax bills, according to The Washington Post."

• The Business of Not Paying Taxes, Nightly Business Report (August 12, 2008).
  

  "Eric Toder, Senior Fellow, Tax Policy Center: Through aggressive transfer pricing, they are shifting reported profits overseas, so they are booking those profits that should be attributed to the U.S. in other countries."

• Fox News vs McCain's Lies, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish blog (August 11, 2008) by Andrew Sullivan.
  

  "In fact, he says, that's not his tax plan, that he supports a middle-class tax cut. And I want to put something up on the screen. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center says someone making $37,000 a year under Obama's plan would get a tax cut of $892. Under McCain's plan, they get a tax cut of $113."

• Reckless Abandon, The National Journal, The Hotline feature (August 11, 2008) by Andrew Sullivan.
  

  "According to a recent analysis by "the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center," Obama's tax plan would add $3.4T to the national debt, including interest, by '18. Obama "bashes" Pres. Bush "for 'reckless' economic policies that are 'mortgaging our children's future on a mountain of debt,'" but he "has adopted a key component of Bush's fiscal policy: A novel bookkeeping method that guarantees that" the $9.5T national debt will get much bigger."

• Tax plans differ in those who benefit, The Arizona Republic (August 11, 2008) by Brian Tumulty.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says Obama's proposals would indeed increase taxes for small businesses, seniors and families, but only if their income was more than $250,000."

• Bond Vigilantes Who Gave Bush a Pass May Ambush Obama or McCain, Bloomberg News (August 11, 2008) by Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "McCain's tax-cut proposals would add more than $400 billion to annual deficits by the end of a first term, while Obama's would widen the budget gap by almost $300 billion, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. Obama also proposes at least $130 billion a year in new spending by 2012 on health care, energy, education and infrastructure, among other programs."

• McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis on 'FOX News Sunday', FoxNews (August 10, 2008).
  

  "In fact, he says, that's not his tax plan, that he supports a middle-class tax cut. And I want to put something up on the screen. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center says someone making $37,000 a year under Obama's plan would get a tax cut of $892. Under McCain's plan, they get a tax cut of $113."

• Lousy economy threatens states' sales tax holidays, The Associated Press (August 10, 2008) by Juanita Cousins.
  

  "I understand why legislators want to give people a break — because the economy is down and people are hurting and can't afford the things they want to buy," said Kim Rueben, public finance economist for the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "But they aren't taking into account what that revenue could later buy for the states."

• Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds, The Washington Post (August 10, 2008) by Lori Montgomery.
  

  "But under current law, all the tax cuts expire and the deficit disappears completely. Democrats in Congress have vowed to preserve the Bush tax cuts only if they can cover the cost and keep the budget in balance. Measured against current law and against the promises of his fellow Democrats, Obama would rack up huge deficits. According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018."

• Editorial: To Listen Is Taxing, The Washington Post (August 10, 2008).
  

  "The Obama plan would reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income families, but raise them significantly for high-bracket taxpayers," the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center reported. "By 2012, middle-income taxpayers would see their after-tax income rise by 4.6 percent, or $2,100 annually." In fact, the center found, Mr. McCain was less generous than Mr. Obama to middle-income taxpayers, trimming their taxes by about 3 percent of income, or $1,400 annually, by 2012."

• Estate taxes pose little threat to Steelers ownership, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (August 10, 2008) by Mark Roth.
  

  "In reality, though, few estates pay the full estate tax rate, and there is almost no evidence that any family-owned enterprises have had to dissolve or sell out because of the federal tax, said Ben Harris, a senior research associate at the Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a joint operation of the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute."

• Why Their Economic Plans Don't Add Up, BusinessWeek (August 8, 2008) by Jane Sasseen.
  

  "So all the tax changes McCain calls for would be costly. According to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), extending most of the Bush tax cuts now set to expire in 2011 would cost an average of $170 billion a year in lost revenue between 2009 and 2018. Indexing the AMT so that it nabs fewer middle-class folk would nip $120 billion more from Uncle Sam's purse. McCain's proposed reductions in the corporate tax rate would lop off $73 billion annually on average. All told, estimates the TPC, McCain's tax proposals would reduce estimated tax revenues over the next decade by some $4.2 trillion."

• Attacks give McCain a taste of celebrity: Now he’s back for more, Reuters, Tales from the Trail blog (August 8, 2008) by David Alexander.
  

  "A study in mid-July by the Tax Policy Center — a venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution — found that Obama’s tax proposals would lift the after-tax income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans by 5.5 percent."

• Editorial: Twin pander bears, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (August 7, 2008).
  

  "An analysis of the candidates’ plans by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, concluded that McCain’s tax ideas would crank up the national debt by $5 trillion over the next decade. Obama’s plans would increase the debt by $3.4 trillion. The campaigns complain the center doesn’t factor in their plans for budget-cutting, but we’re skeptical McCain and Obama could cut enough to make up the yawning gaps in their accounting."

• Syron's side of the story, The Boston Globe (August 6, 2008) by Robert Gavin.
  

  "But William Gale, director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said blaming housing goals for bad loan decisions is "clearly trying to pass the buck." Like other companies, Freddie gambled on risky loans to make money, Gale said."

• There’s a big difference in candidate’s tax platform, Asheville Citizen-Times (N.C.) (August 6, 2008) by Michael Beer.
  

  "So what values are revealed by each presidential candidate’s current tax proposals? On the website of the non-partisan group United for a Fair Economy, www.faireconomy.org, I found a useful list of questions to ask candidates about their tax policy. The first question is “Who benefits and who loses under your tax proposal?” I applied their list of questions to the Tax Policy Center’s recent analysis of Senator McCain’s and Senator Obama’s tax plans."

• McCain Embraces Deficit Critic Walker as Truth Teller (Update1), Bloomberg News (August 6, 2008) by Lorraine Woellert.
  

  "McCain's tax cuts alone would increase the debt by $5 trillion by 2018, compared with $3.4 trillion for Obama, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group."

• Obama Fuzzy on 'Small Business' Exemption, ABC News, Political Radar Blog (August 5, 2008) by Gregory Wallace and Teddy Davis.
  

  "The number would almost certainly be higher than ten employees," Furman added when asked if a recent non-partisan study by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center was correct in assuming that Obama would exempt "small businesses" with fewer than 10 employees from the pay-or-play system."

• Letters: Rental-car tax bad all around, Philadelphia Daily News (August 5, 2008) by Kim Rueben.
  

  "Economist William Gale and I have documented that more than half of all cars rented in the U.S. are rented locally, either for personal or business use - thus, most rental excise taxes are paid by local taxpayers. So, Philadelphia's so-called "tourist tax" has been paid largely by local consumers and businesses."

• Would you care for a spending decrease with that tax cut?, Star Tribune (August 5, 2008) by Debra J. Saunders.
  

  "OK, but that's the wrong approach. The Tax Policy Center figures, over 10 years, Obama's tax package would reduce federal revenues -- read: increase the federal deficit -- by $2.8 trillion. And that doesn't include the cost of his spending proposals."

• Family's Value, The New Republic (August 4, 2008) by Robert Gordon.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plans are better than McCain's for the bottom 80 percent of families with children, and vastly superior for the bottom 40 percent."

• Why Obama Needs the Rich, Barron's (August 4, 2008) by Jim McTague.
  

  "The 5.6 million figure comes from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington and is based on Internal Revenue Service data from 2007. The center's highly sophisticated computer model estimates the number of filers, and breaks them down by income level. The 5.6 million actually represent an extrapolation based on the filers, joint or single, who reported incomes of $200,000 or more last year. So, it might be off by a few hundred thousand."

• Tax plans are source of great division, San Diego Union-Tribune (August 4, 2008) by Finlay Lewis.
  

  "In that scenario, the income of the country's richest citizens would drop by an estimated 9 percent, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. The center also calculated that the wealthiest would see their incomes rise by 3 percent if McCain's broad tax cut plan became law."

• Editorial: A half-trillion dollar hole, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 4, 2008).
  

  "Mr. McCain wants to remove the expiration dates on the tax cuts that were enacted in the early years of the Bush administration and also cut other taxes on individuals and businesses. That would shrink Uncle Sam's revenues by $600 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. If Mr. McCain also continues the war in Iraq, the deficit will turn monstrous."

• Editorial: Taxman cometh: Obama plan targets top income earners, The Oklahoman (August 3, 2008).
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, the average American earning less than $19,000 a year would see his tax bill cut by $567 under Obama's plan. People earning between $112,000 and $161,000 would get a reduction of $2,204, but those earning more than $603,000 would pay nearly $116,000 more in taxes."

• Tax-cut nation keeps spending, San Francisco Chronicle (August 3, 2008) by Debra J. Saunders.
  

  "OK, but that's the wrong approach. The Tax Policy Center figures that over 10 years, Obama's tax package would reduce federal revenues - read: increase the federal deficit - by $2.8 trillion. And that doesn't include the cost of his spending proposals."

• Wall Street Journalomics: The Case of the Missing Tax Facts, Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel (August 1, 2008) by Alice Cherbonnier.
  

  "Reporting on taxes and other economic topics can be difficult, it's true, because the topics are necessarily complex. One source of information the public should consult is a report called "An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates’ Tax Plans," prepared by the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution and published on July 23, 2008."

• Devil in the Details, AOL News, Political Machine blog (August 1, 2008) by David Knowles.
  

  "To that end, the Tax Policy Center senses a disconnect between what McCain says on the stump in relation to the scant details he has released."

• McCain's camp suffers from a paper gap, The Politico (August 1, 2008) by Avi Zenilman.
  

  "A report issued last week by the Tax Policy Center, a well-respected, numbers-oriented think tank, found that "Sen. McCain's proposals on the stump are often far more sweeping than the more measured options outlined by his campaign" — and would in fact double the tax impact of his formal proposals, while Obama's off-the-cuff additions would reduce the impact of his plan by about one-sixth."

• Let's make America thrifty again, Money Magazine (August 1, 2008) by Pat Regnier.
  

  "Of course, the government already spends a lot to get people to save. IRAs and 401(k)s cost the Treasury more than $100 billion a year in forgone taxes. Trouble is, high-income people, who'd probably save anyway, capture most of that benefit, according to a Tax Policy Center study."

July

• Obama and Wild Bill, Cousins?, The Washington Post, The Trail blog (July 31, 2008) by Jonathan Weisman.
  

  "That may not be what Obama had in mind for McCain, but he said he is ready for Republican attacks on him as a tax hiker. Both men have detailed tax plans, and both ultimately cut taxes overall, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, jointly run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute."

• Obama's Taxing Policies, Forbes.com (July 31, 2008) by Brian Wingfield.
  

  "Last week, the Tax Policy Center, a think tank affiliated with Furman's previous employer, the Brookings Institution, released its second analysis of the candidates' tax plans. The analysis says Obama's plan "as described by his economic advisers" would boost the national debt by $3.4 trillion by 2018. McCain's plan would drive it to $5 trillion over the same period."

• Editorial: The deficit and Obama's spending plans, Las Vegas Review-Journal (July 31, 2008).
  

  "It's a program of redistribution that would cost an additional $130 billion per year, the Tax Policy Center says -- accompanied by a planned reduction of $2.7 trillion in tax collections over the next decade if Sen. Obama follows through with his proposal to slash taxes for the middle class and "working poor."

• Why Obama Offers A Net Tax Cut, Time, Swampland blog (July 30, 2008).
  

  "So I want to make a few things clear. First, the Obama campaign calculates that its tax plan offers a net tax revenue reduction over ten years, if the health plan is included. Second, independent economists at the Tax Policy Center come to the same conclusion. Third, Holtz-Eakin has repeatedly, and quite seriously, invoked the net-tax-cut calculations of Obama to make the argument that the Democrat has a fiscally irresponsible economic plan."

• Candidates query each other over taxes, Iraq war, Kansas City Star (July 30, 2008).
  

  "Obama’s question to McCain: A report by the Tax Policy Center finds that Obama’s tax cuts for middle-class families are three times larger than yours. Do you think American families will believe that they will benefit from your proposal to cut taxes for corporations and for big oil?"

• Editorial: We think: McCain and Obama need plans to keep the nation from drowning in debt, Orlando Sentinel (July 30, 2008).
  

  "The independent Tax Policy Center said that during the next decade, Mr. McCain's tax cuts would add another $5 trillion to the national debt. Mr. Obama's tax cuts would increase the debt by $3.4 trillion. He's also been promising to boost spending on health care, education and alternative energy, but his plans to raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations won't cover those costs."

• Economy Returns to Center Stage of Campaign Trail, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (July 29, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center looked at Sen. McCain's proposals and found that the tax cuts would cost $3.4 trillion. Now, Nancy might object that they didn't look at the spending cuts the senator is proposing. Well, the senator hasn't listed any spending cuts, maybe one or two tiny ones, but nothing coming close to the $3.4 trillion of tax cuts that he has listed, has promised, and campaigns on day in and day out."

• Deficit projections complicate candidates' plans, MarketWatch.com (July 29, 2008) by Robert Schroeder.
  

  "In the short term, you don't need to worry about whether we're running a deficit or not," says Roberton Williams, principal research associate for the Tax Policy Center. "Fifty billion dollars is not a lot of money in a $13 trillion economy."

• McCain upsets conservatives over taxes, International Herald Tribune (July 29, 2008) by Brian Knowlton.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates the cost of McCain's tax policies at $3.6 trillion over the next decade, and of Obama's at $2.7 trillion, not including an additional $130 billion Obama would spend each year for health care, education and other programs."

• A river of red ink, Star Tribune (July 29, 2008).
  

  "Neither McCain nor Obama has been particularly mindful of the budget deficit. McCain has proposed extending all of Bush's first-term tax cuts, which expire in 2011, and adding hundreds of billions more, mostly for business. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates the cost of McCain's tax policies at $3.6 trillion over the next decade."

• Record Federal Deficit Expected Next Year, The Bulletin (Philadelphia, Pa.) (July 29, 2008) by Steven Pikelny.
  

  "Neither presidential candidate's fiscal plans offer any relief. Republican presumptive nominee John McCain's and Democrat presumptive nominee Barack Obama's tax plans may cost up to 4.2 trillion and 2.8 trillion respectively over ten years, estimates the non-partisan Tax Policy Center."

• Obama's economic plans: just say no (to much of itOPINION: Obama Sees Economy the Right, and Left, Way, TheStreet.com (July 29, 2008) by John Fout.
  

  "McCain prefers a different road. He often speaks in favor of free markets and free trade. He has endorsed President Bush's tax cuts -- after opposing them in 2001 and 2003 -- and is now suggesting additional cuts. According to an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, his tax policies favor the wealthy. The analysis also noted that his tax cuts add to the deficit, though McCain has spoken strongly against deficit spending. He commented on the deficit numbers on Monday."

• Obama's economic plans: just say no (to much of it), The Atlantic Online, Asymmetrical Information blog (July 29, 2008) by Megan MacArdle.
  

  "What do the two approaches have in common? Both could prove expensive. A recent study by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, says both candidates "have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next 10 years"--Obama by $3.4 trillion, McCain by $5 trillion. The White House said Monday the federal deficit will reach a record $482 billion in fiscal year 2009--about $75 billion more than previously thought, thanks to the recent economic stimulus and economic downturn."

• Record $482 Billion '09 Deficit Forecast, The Washington Post (July 29, 2008) by Jonathan Weisman.
  

  "Neither McCain nor Obama has been particularly mindful of the budget deficit. McCain has proposed to extend all of Bush's first-term tax cuts, which expire in 2011, and add hundreds of billions more, mostly for business. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates the cost of McCain's tax policies at $3.6 trillion over the next decade."

• Budget-Gap Estimates Balloon To Some $500 Billion, The Wall Street Journal (July 29, 2008) by John D. McKinnon and Amy Chozick.
  

  "Analysts said both candidates have made promises that would add to government red ink. Compared with current tax policy, Sen. Obama's plan would raise government revenue -- $800 billion during the next 10 years -- while Sen. McCain's tax plan would lower government revenue by about $600 billion, according to analysts at the Tax Policy Center, a think-tank consortium in Washington."

• New Deficit Figures Constrain Obama, McCain, The New York Sun (July 29, 2008) by Russell Berman.
  

  ""This should constrain what the candidates actually do once they're in office," the director of the Tax Policy Center at the Bookings Institution, Leonard Burman, said. "It's probably not going to constrain what they say on the campaign trail."

• Candidates blast White House's economic oversight, USA Today (July 29, 2008) by David Jackson.
  

  "In a revised report dated July 23, the Tax Policy Center said the tax-cutting plans of both campaigns could increase the total federal debt substantially over the next decade: McCain by $5 trillion and Obama by $3.4 trillion."

• Obama holds bipartisan economy talks, Financial Times (July 29, 2008) by Edward Luce.
  

  "Mr McCain’s tax and spending proposals would add an estimated $3,400bn to the US deficit over the next decade compared with an estimated $700bn deficit reduction from Mr Obama’s plans, according to the Tax Policy Center, an independent think-tank."

• Obama's Small Spending Limits, Big Tax Cuts May Worsen Deficit, Bloomberg News (July 29, 2008) by Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "The shortfalls Obama would produce don't approach the size of the deficits John McCain's budget threatens to bring. The Republican candidate's tax cuts alone would increase the debt by $5 trillion by 2018, compared with $3.4 trillion for Obama, says the Tax Policy Center, another nonpartisan group."

• Will new president be able to pay for promises?, The Seattle Times (McClatchy Newspapers) (July 29, 2008) by David Lightman and William Douglas.
  

  "Obama would raise taxes on the wealthy but would leave many of President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in place — reductions that will cost the government around $2.8 trillion in the next decade, according to last week's report from the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the two center-left research centers."

• State Budgets In A Declining Economy, WAMU, The Diane Rehm Show (July 28, 2008) host Steve Roberts.
  

  "Kim Reuben, public finance economist, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C."

• The Candidates' Tax Plans: Fuzzy Math, Time (July 28, 2008) by Michael Scherer.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, neither Obama nor McCain has laid out plans to close the budget deficit over the next 10 years under current spending regimes. Not counting health proposals, the McCain plan would collect about 17.9% of GDP through taxes. The Obama plan would collect about 18.4%. For comparison, congressional accountants predict that, under current law, the Federal Government is projected to spend about 19.7% of GDP in the same time period, meaning both McCain and Obama would run deficits — 1.8% and 1.3% of GDP, respectively — without significant cuts in federal spending or surprising growth in the economy."

• Once Again, It's The Economy, Stupid, Forbes.com (July 28, 2008) by Brian Wingfield .
  

  "What do the two approaches have in common? Both could prove expensive. A recent study by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, says both candidates "have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next 10 years"--Obama by $3.4 trillion, McCain by $5 trillion. The White House said Monday the federal deficit will reach a record $482 billion in fiscal year 2009--about $75 billion more than previously thought, thanks to the recent economic stimulus and economic downturn."

• Welcome, Mr. President: Here's the tab, CNNMoney.com (July 28, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  ""It certainly doesn't make it any easier for them," said Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center and the former deputy assistant director for tax analysis at the Congressional Budget Office."

• More on Candidate Plans, The American Prospect, Ezra Klein blog (July 28, 2008) by Ezra Klein.
  

  "But the economic policies of Obama and McCain are actually incredibly clear. That's why the Tax Policy Center could release a document scoring them, and offering a distributional analysis of their impacts. It's Scherer's article that makes them seem less definable than they really are, and does so largely through layering semi-related issues atop them."

• Record deficit expected in 2009, USA Today (July 28, 2008) by Richard Wolf.
  

  "Both presidential candidates have proposed tax cuts that could further swell the deficit. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Republican John McCain's cuts would cost $4.2 trillion and Democrat Barack Obama's $2.8 trillion over 10 years. Neither candidate has specified major spending cuts he would make to reduce the deficit."

• Deficit Soars; Candidates Fiddle, Inc.com, The Entrepreneurial Agenda blog (July 28, 2008) by Robb Mandelbaum.
  

  "In truth, neither Obama nor McCain have talked much about the deficit. Obama is proposing tax cuts for about 95 percent of Americans (individuals making under $200,000 or couples making less than $250,000), and according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, that will decrease revenues to the Treasury Department by $2.8 trillion over ten years, or $3.4 trillion when you include additional interest costs to finance the resulting debt. McCain would give everybody a tax cut, and would cost the Treasury $4.2 trillion, or $5 trillion with interest factored in."

• Tax rebate checks are swallowed by economic malaise, Los Angeles Times (July 28, 2008) by Richard Fausset, P.J. Huffstutter and Stephen Braun .
  

  "Even in an economy gripped by malaise, a small burst of spending is preferable to none, said Leonard E. Burman, a senior fellow at the centrist Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• McCain And Obama On Taxes: Take 2, The Atlantic Online (July 28, 2008) by hilzoy.
  

  "Last month, the Center for Tax Policy put out a report (pdf) on McCain and Obama's tax proposals. At the time, I noted that some of the assumptions they made about McCain's policies, which they got from the McCain campaign, did not match what McCain was himself was saying in campaign appearances. Now they've come out with a revised version, in which they refine their original calculations, but also note discrepancies between what both candidates' campaigns say and what the candidates themselves say, and try to cost out both."

• Editorial: No relief: McCain and Obama will continue Bush’s profligacy, Beaver County Times (July 28, 2008).
  

  "McClatchy Newspapers reported that the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan operation of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two center-left Washington research centers, looked into the tax proposals of both candidates, and the results are troubling to anybody who is tired of the fiscal irresponsibility of the last eight years."

• Tax Policy Made Simple, The Atlantic Online, Matthew Yglesias blog (July 28, 2008) by Matthew Yglesias .
  

  "The details of the plans are somewhat complicated, but the overall impact on revenues and income distribution is very easy to summarize. And, indeed, the Tax Policy Center has already done the summary in a report I know Time is aware of because it's referenced in the article. They even went through the trouble of making a chart."

• (Friendly) BlogFight: Am I A Cynicism Pusher?, Time, Swampland blog (July 28, 2008) by Michael Scherer.
  

  "But what happens if we compare the candidate tax plans to the "current law" standard, which the Tax Policy Center scholars prefer. Under this standard, the tax cuts expire as expected and the AMT continues to grow as planned. That's good news for the nation's debt, but bad news for the campaigns, which suddenly look fiscally irresponsible. Under the "current law" standard, both campaigns are planning massive tax cuts for the American people: $4.2 trillion for McCain and $2.8 trillion for Obama, over ten years."

• Unseen since the 1970s, tax inflation looms ominously on the horizon, The Boston Globe (July 27, 2008)by Scott Burns.
  

  "If you then go to the Tax Policy Center website and check its analysis of tax proposals from the candidates, you'll see both candidates are offering a tax cut to every household with a taxable income under $200,000. Under the Obama proposal, for instance, a household with two earners and no dependents filing a joint return with $200,000 of taxable income would enjoy a tax cut of $6,474. Under the McCain proposal, the same household would enjoy a tax cut of, gee whiz, $6,474."

• Does McCain Speak for McCain, The Atlantic Online (July 26, 2008) by Matthew Yglesias.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center discovered a $2.8 trillion gap between between the various promising John McCain has been making throughout the campaign and what his economic policy advisers have been describing more quietly to expert analysts."

• Impact of Candidates' Tax Plans on Deficit Worsens, Seekingalpha.com (July 25, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center has updated its analysis of the fiscal impact of the tax proposals of Presidential candidates Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. In both cases, the impact on the national debt would be greater than under the Center’s previous model."

• Comparing The Candidates' Tax Proposals, NPR, Fresh Air on WHYY (July 24, 2008).
  

  "Economist Len Burman is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute — a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization — and director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center."

• Obama Vs. the Bond Market, U.S. News & World Report, Capital Commerce blog (July 24, 2008) by James Pethokoukis.
  

  "Keep in mind that Obama advisers like Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee (and the centrist Tax Policy Center) maintain that deficits will be far larger under McCain. More on that to come..."

• Certainty: taxes will change, whether it's Obama or McCain, McClatchy Newspapers (July 24, 2008) by Steven Thomma.
  

  "There's a good chance that whoever the next president is, the Congress will agree to extend the middle class tax cuts," said Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint operation of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution that analyzes taxes. Both are center-left think tanks."

• Battle Of The Tax Plans: Which Favors Small Biz?, Inc.com, The Entrepreneurial Agenda blog (July 24, 2008) by Robb Mandelbaum.
  

  "On the other hand, the Tax Policy Center has published data that suggests that most small business owners will actually get a tax cut under Obama's plan -- in fact, a bigger tax cut than they would get under McCain. (The Tax Policy Center is a project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institute, two organizations that most people consider center left; Obama's senior economic adviser holds a position at Brookings.) So who's right?"

• McCain and Obama tax plans are criticized, Los Angeles Times (July 24, 2008) by Stephen Braun.
  

  "Both campaigns assert that their plans to continue many Bush-era tax cuts and offer new reductions would aid the economy without massive new spending. But the Washington-based Tax Policy Center warned that under either candidate, "the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years."

• Secondary Sources: Globalization, Tax Plans, Economic Test, Zimbabwe, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (July 24, 2008) by Phil Izzo.
  

  "Obama, McCain Tax Plans: Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center’s TaxVox blog has a postmortem of a debate between John McCain’s top policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, and Barack Obama’s senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee. “McCain’s primary policy goal is economic growth, Obama’s is progressivity. These are big and interesting contrasts, and it would have been nice to learn more about what drives their bosses’ agendas. But, instead, I mostly heard why the other candidate’s plan is so awful.” "

• Goolsbee vs. Holtz-Eakin: When Advisers Attack!, U.S. News & World Report, Capital Commerce blog (July 23, 2008) by James Pethokoukis.
  

  "My final take: The media are going to interpret the data from the Tax Policy Center, the folks who ran the debate, as meaning that neither McCain nor Obama can balance the budget, with McCain's plan about a third more profligate. But I also sense that neither campaign thinks the deficit is a big issue compared with concerns about economic growth and help to people struggling financially from high gas prices, flat wages, and falling home prices."

• Real Life Politics chat with Ruth Marcus, Washingtonpost.com (July 23, 2008).
  

  "Ruth Marcus: I'm listening right now to a webcast from the wonderful Tax Policy Center, www.taxpolicycenter.org, which has just released a fascinating analysis of the two candidates' tax plans. I agree with you about the importance of trade. However, I do not agree about the alleged horror of returning tax rates on the wealthiest Americans to the level of the Clinton administration, when, as I recall, we were not in a depression! I agree that this needs to be done wisely, perhaps gradually, and with regard to the underlying economic climate but the oposition to Sen. Obama's tax plan from Republicans has been the same with or without a looming or ongoing recession."

• McCain's, Obama's tax plans would hike debt, study says, McClatchy Newspapers (July 23, 2008) by Steven Thomma.
  

  "McCain would cut taxes by a total of $4.2 trillion over 10 years, largely by extending most of President Bush's temporary tax reductions, which are set to expire in 2010, according to the analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan operation of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two center-left Washington research centers."

• Small Business Taxes and Obama, WebCPA (July 16, 2008) by Michael Cohn.
  

  "Those small business owners could also include McCain and Obama themselves, both of whom earned money from their book sales. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center estimates that fewer than 663,608 taxpayers with business income or losses would fall into the top two tax brackets next year and might then be subject to the higher taxes."

• McCain deceives on tax-raising issue, The Coloradoan (July 16, 2008).
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center's computations, "under Mr. Obama's plan, the middle of the middle class, or those earning $37,595 to $66,354, would see taxes cut by $1,042 a year."

• Political Wisdom: John McCain, Reformer, Returns, The Wall Street Journal, Political Perceptions blog (July 16, 2008) by Gerald F. Seib and Sara Murray.
  

  "A “much-publicized report” by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, “found that once Obama’s entire plan is in effect in 2012, it will benefit lower- and middle-class taxpayers significantly more than McCain’s. And each income level would ‘on average, receive a tax cut, but those at the very top of the income scale would receive tax increases."

• Up To Code, New York Sun (July 15, 2008) by Julie Satow.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, two center-left think tanks, said that Mr. McCain's proposal "could be beneficial," adding, "a lower corporate tax rate would encourage multinational corporations to invest more in the United States and, for a given amount of investment, to report a larger share of their worldwide taxable income to the United States instead of foreign treasuries."

• Up To Code, National Journal (July 15, 2008) by Adam Aigner-Treworgy.
  

  "According to the TPC's comparison, "the Obama tax plan would make the tax system significantly more progressive by providing large tax breaks to those at the bottom of the income scale and raising taxes significantly on upper-income earners. The McCain tax plan would make the tax system more regressive, even compared with a system in which the 2001-06 tax cuts are made permanent. It would do so by providing relatively little tax relief to those at the bottom of the income scale while providing huge tax cuts to households at the very top of the income distribution."

• Up To CodeHuffington Post (July 14, 2008) by Brooks Jackson.
  

  "Based on the number of taxpayers who now report any sort of business income on their returns, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center projects that 663,608 taxpayers with business income, or business losses, will fall into the top two tax brackets in 2009, when any Obama tax changes would first take effect. Not all of those can properly be called "small-business owners," however. Some are farmers. Many are lawyers, accountants or other professionals who get some of their income in the form of partnership distributions."

• McCain open to tax increases for wealthy, The Examiner, Progressive Politics Examiner blog (July 14, 2008) by Jay McDonough.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates the extra cost of the scaled-back plan at $47 billion in 2013, bringing the deficit to a daunting $490 billion."

• Spending $1 Billion to Restore Fiscal Sanity, The New York Times (July 14, 2008) by John Harwood.
  

  "Mr. Obama recommends his $80 billion in tax cuts for working families and retirees, his $65 billion-a-year plan to expand access to health care coverage, and his call for a $50 billion economic stimulus package. Last week, Jason Furman, his economic policy adviser, disputed the calculation by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that Mr. Obama had proposed a net tax increase by raising rates on affluent taxpayers; the center, Mr. Furman said, had failed to count tax credits for health care that Mr. Obama would distribute."

• Editorial: McCain Math, The Washington Post (July 14, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates the extra cost of the scaled-back plan at $47 billion in 2013, bringing the deficit to a daunting $490 billion. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign claims it would be far higher, somewhere between $650 billion and $750 billion."

• Candidates' tax plans agree: More debt, The Washington Times (July 14, 2008) by David M. Dickson.
  

  "If Congress fully adopts the next president's tax policies unrelated to health care, average federal taxes in 2009 for the middle fifth of the American population would decline by $1,042 under an Obama administration and by $319 under a McCain administration, according to an analysis of their plans by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center (TPC), a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Why You Can't Believe Their Tax Promises, Barron's (July 14, 2008) by Jim McTague.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Obama's plan would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt while McCain's would add $4.3 trillion, assuming that all of their optimistic revenue offsets expire. If this is fiscal discipline, then I nominate Dennis "Umbrella Stand" Kozlowski for Treasury secretary."

• McCain Needs Crash Course in Basic Economics, Bloomberg News (July 14, 2008) by Albert R. Hunt.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, analyzed the candidates' proposals: The working poor would get a $1,459 tax cut under Obama, more than double what McCain proposes."

• Waiting To Celebrate a Gas-Tax Holiday? Do Not Hold Your Breath, WWJ.com (July 14, 2008) by Ed Coury.
  

  "Talk of the holiday has all but ceased in tax policy circles, according to Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. It's unclear if it's a serious proposal, Toder says, "in terms of anything real that could possibly happen."

• Where they stand on taxes, The Baltimore Sun (July 13, 2008) by Eileen Ambrose.
  

  "Ironically, McCain's proposal to double the exemption for dependents to $7,000 could cause more people to be hit with AMT, says Roberton Williams with the Tax Policy Center. "It lowers your regular tax but, because the AMT doesn't allow personal exemptions, it doesn't lower your AMT liability," he says."

• Rising Tide Of Red Ink Puts US Budget In Political Spotlight, Nasdaq.com (July 11, 2008) by Henry J. Pulizzi.
  

  "According to a preliminary analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a project of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, McCain's non-health tax proposals would cut tax receipts by $3.6 trillion over 10 years, while Obama's would reduce revenues by $2.7 trillion. Including interest, McCain's tax cuts would boost the national debt by $4.3 trillion. Obama's would increase the debt by $ 3.3 trillion."

• McCain's budget figures don't add up, The Boston Globe (July 11, 2008) by Scot Lehigh.
  

  "The deficit in the final budget of his first term would be around $440 billion if the Bush tax cuts are extended and the Alternative Minimum Tax is indexed for inflation, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. Add the extra $47 billion that the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates as the net cost of McCain's various tax-cut plans, and the deficit would be about $490 billion for that fiscal year."

• An argument against Obama's tax plan, The Politico (July 11, 2008) by Grover G. Norquist.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center and the Barack Obama campaign used some sleight of hand this week in Politico. To quote Eric Tolder of the TPC, “Most small-business people, like most everyone else, are not really high-income.” While this is true, it completely and totally misses the point."

• McCain targets women at Hudson campaign stop, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (July 11, 2008) by Craig Gilbert.
  

  "A recent report by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that McCain's tax cuts would go far more to upper earners, while Obama would raise taxes on upper earners, but lower them more than McCain for people below the highest brackets. McCain argues that his plan would do more to stimulate job creation, and thereby benefit Americans broadly."

• Both Obama, McCain Vow To Lower Taxes, But How?, NPR (July 10, 2008).
  
• How to Balance the Federal Budget, The Huffington Post (July 10, 2008) by Hale “Bonddad” Stewart.
  

  "Let the Bush tax cuts expire. According to the Tax Policy Center, 57.6% of the 2001 - 2003 changes in tax law went to people with incomes over $100,000. At that level of the game, they can take care of themselves. The expiration will happen naturally because of the built-in sunset provisions. I have not seen an estimate of the amount of money this will bring into the Federal government. Let's be conservative and say an addition $150 billion year. That means between an expiration of the tax cuts and getting out of Iraq we've got $300 billion in savings."

• Analysts see red in candidates' economic blueprints, The Boston Globe (July 10, 2008) by Brian C. Mooney.
  

  "An analysis of the candidates' tax plans, released last month by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, estimated that McCain's program would reduce tax revenues by $3.6 trillion over the next 10 years while Obama's would cost $2.7 trillion over that time. And both would greatly increase the national debt, now more than $9 trillion."

• Political Strategies, Economics Don't Mix, The State Journal (Charleston, W.V.) (July 10, 2008) by Calvin Kent.
  

  "But in a political year, the battle cry for some politicians is "Soak the rich," so they pay their "fair share" of taxes. The nonpartisan and highly regarded Tax Policy Center shed some light on this contention in its report, "The Distribution of Federal Taxes, 2008-11," issued last month. The study considers all federal taxes: individual income, payroll (Social Security and Medicare), corporate income and estate."

• Obama, McCain and the coming fiscal disaster, Chicago Tribune (July 10, 2008) by Steve Chapman.
  

  "His only defense is that he would not have to make up as much lost revenue as his rival. The Tax Policy Center says his tax plan would cut federal receipts by $2.7 trillion over the next decade, compared with $3.6 trillion for McCain."

• McCain's Taxing Tax Attacks, Time, Swampland Blog (July 10, 2008) by Michael Scherer .
  

  "Begin with the central thesis of the McCain tax argument. "[Obama] wants to raise taxes, which makes the economy worse. I want low taxes," McCain said last month, at a town hall event on Wall Street. In fact, both the McCain and the Obama tax plans will have the effect of reducing total revenue to the federal government, meaning lower aggregate taxes. But don't take my word for it. "Their specific non-health tax proposals would reduce tax revenues by $3.6 trillion (McCain) and $2.7 trillion (Obama) over the next 10 years, or approximately 10 and 7 percent of the revenues scheduled for collection under current law, respectively," says the non-partisan Tax Policy Center."

• Time is right to look at capital-gains tax, The Seattle Times (July 9, 2008)
  

  "But the rules are unlikely to change in the short-term, based on current proposals, says Roberton Williams, principal research associate with the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. If presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama wins in November, capital-gains taxes will likely rise in 2011 for the highest income brackets, Williams says."

• McCain, Obama have different plans for capital gains tax, The Star Ledger (July 9, 2008) by Robert Cohen.
  

  "Len Burman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and author of a book on capital gains tax policy, said there is strong disagreement among economists on the effect of capital gains tax rates, with some arguing low rates are needed to encourage investment and actually bring in more money for the Treasury."

• WEB EXTRA: The Breakdown of Senators Obama and McCain On Taxes, WSAZ.com (July 9, 2008) by Michael Wooten.
  

  "According to The Tax Policy Center, here's how the average taxes would change in 2009 based on the two candidates' tax proposals."

• McCain adviser needs tax fact-check, The Politico (July 8, 2008) by Eamon Javers and Lisa Lerer and Victoria McGrane .
  

  "Obama’s proposal affects owners of small businesses only if they fall into top tax brackets. “Most small-business people, like most everyone else, are not really high-income,” said Eric Tolder, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center."

• Candidates Diverge on How to Save Social Security, The Washington Post (July 8, 2008) by Perry Bacon Jr.
  

  "Len Berman, the director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said that although Obama "should get credit for doing something about Social Security," the proposal lacks enough specificity about its tax increases to illustrate how it would help Social Security and whether those increased taxes would slow the economy."It would be nice to know how it affects economic incentives," Berman said."

• Housing Bill's Tax Credit Draws Criticism, The Wall Street Journal (July 8, 2008) by Arden Dale.
  

  "Len Burman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and director of the Tax Policy Center, said he is "not a huge fan" of the credit. He called it "just another complicated thing for people to deal with on their tax returns," and said he doesn't think it will have a huge impact on the housing market."

• The $32,000 Question, Newsweek.com (July 8, 2008) by Joe Miller.
  

  "But as those of you who have filled out a 1040 know, that's not actually how income taxes work. We don't pay taxes on our total earnings; we pay them based on our "taxable income." The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center's Eric Toder told FactCheck.org that "people with taxable income of $32,000 would have a total income greater than that." In 2008, anyone filing taxes with single status would be entitled to a standard deduction of $5,450, as well as a personal exemption of $3,500. So to have a taxable income high enough to reach the 25 percent bracket, an individual would need to earn at least $41,500 in total income, while a married couple would need a combined income of at least $83,000."

• Skepticism on McCain Plan to Balance Budget by 2013, The New York Times (July 8, 2008) by Robert Pear.
  

  "C. Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute, who worked in the Reagan administration, said Mr. McCain “may well be committed to balancing the budget in five years, but does not tell you how he would reach that goal."

• Adding up the cost of Obama's agenda, Los Angeles Times (July 8, 2008) by Peter Nicholas.
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center examined Obama's plans to eliminate tax loopholes and said it could not confirm the projected savings. "If you look at official revenue estimates, the numbers come out to be less than half of what they say they're going to raise," said Len Burman, director of the center and a former Treasury official in the Clinton administration, referring to Obama's campaign staff."

• Editorial: Failure of nerve, Chicago Tribune (July 8, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center reported last month that Obama's tax plans would raise the federal debt by $3.3 trillion and McCain's would raise the debt by $4.5 trillion over the next decade. That's before you figure in the cost of borrowing for new spending programs."

• Candidates offer ideas on Social Security, United Press International (July 8, 2008)
  

  "Len Berman, director of the Tax Policy Center, said Obama "should get credit for doing something about Social Security," but the proposal lacks specificity about its tax increases and whether increases would slow the economy."

• Obama vs. McCain: The economic battle, MSNBC.com (July 8, 2008) by Domenico Montanaro.
  

  "“Obama's staff thinks that ending the Iraq war would free up money -- at least $90 billion a year -- that could be redirected to the new government programs… Some budget experts say even a speedy end to the war would not give Obama much money for new programs.” Also: Other new sources of revenue in Obama's plan include about $80 billion a year from closing tax loopholes and $100 billion from a variety of cuts in spending and revised government procurement rules. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center examined Obama's plans to eliminate tax loopholes and said it could not confirm the projected savings."

• Candidates tout plans to fix economy, CNN.com (July 7, 2008).
  

  "Each candidate has said their rival's tax proposal would damage the economy, but the plans are not as different as they may seem, according to Roberton Williams, principal research associate for the Tax Policy Center."In broad brush strokes, McCain would cut taxes essentially across the board relative to current law. And effectively what he would do would be extend the Bush cuts permanently," he said. "Along similar lines, Obama would do the same thing for everybody except the top 3 percent of tax payers, the richest 3 percent."

• McCain Reverts to Balanced Budget Pledge, The New York Times, The Caucus blog (July 7, 2008) by Michael Cooper.
  

  "But this spring when his campaign briefed the Tax Policy Center, a think tank that evaluated his proposals, they indicated that he would not abolish the tax, but rather amend it to spare middle class taxpayers – closer to what Congress now does."

• McCain, Obama Spar Over Economy, CBS News (Denver) (July 7, 2008).
  

  "A recent study by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says Obama's plan would give a cut of more than $1,000 dollars to families making between $37,000 and $66,000 a year. Under McCain's plan they'd get just $319, according to the study."

• Editorial: That topic we love to hate, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (July 6, 2008) by Andre Jackson.
  

  "The McCain and Obama proposals are both, as of now, bullet-point sketchy, to put it charitably. The Tax Policy Center reports that "one challenge facing anyone who wants to estimate the effects of candidates' tax plans is that no one — not even inside the campaigns — knows exactly what the proposals are." Given that both plans would reduce tax revenues and increase the national debt in a time of deficits, details need to be forthcoming soon."

• McCain's health plan: A threat to employer plans?, Associated Press (July 6, 2008) by Kevin Freking and Nedra Pickler.
  

  "It would be a mixed bag for the employer system. On the one hand, it's a much more generous tax subsidy than what currently exists for low- and middle-income workers," said Len Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a part of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. "On the other hand, since you can get the credit outside work, some employers would probably drop coverage."

• Automatic Retirement Savings Gains Momentum, CQ Politics (July 3, 2008) by Clea Benson.
  

  "In 2007, federal income tax breaks for retirement saving exceeded actual savings by more than $60 billion, according to one study by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Pocketbook policies, World Magazine (July 3, 2008) by Jamie Dean.
  

  "The left-leaning Tax Policy Center says Obama's plan to allow tax cuts to expire for higher-income workers would raise about $1.2 trillion in revenue over 10 years. But even if that figure is accurate, it wouldn't cover all of Obama's spending plans."

• Column: Gap between rich and poor continues to grow, The Tomah Journal (July 3, 2008) by Kathleen Vinehout.
  

  "Since 2001, changes in federal legislation have provided tax-payers with $1 trillion in tax cuts. The Tax Policy Center found that the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers saw an average tax cut of $44,200, or 5.4%, in 2006. Those making over $1 million saw an increase of 6% in after-tax income. This 6% is more than double the 2.5% increase in middle income households."

• Take closer look at tax proposals, Montgomery Advertiser (July 3, 2008).
  

  "This huge new tax increase would bring in .4 percent of GDP each year, according to the Tax Policy Center. Because employers pay half the 12.4 percent payroll-tax rate, the tax hike imposes a heavy burden on small- and medium-sized businesses. "

• Hard numbers on Obama’s redistribution plan, SmallGovTimes.com (July 1, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center's recent analysis of the presidential tax plans has received a considerable amount of attention in the press. While much of the focus has been on how much or how little each plan benefits "middle-class" taxpayers, little attention has been paid to how each plan affects the overall distribution of the nation's tax burden."