McCain slams Obama on taxes

John McCain focuses on trying to paint Democratic rival Barack Obama as a tax-and-spend liberal in his next-to-last weekly radio address before the election.

"In a time of economic hardship and uncertainty, for many Americans the choice will turn on whether we raise federal taxes or reduce them. My opponent is committed to a massive new tax burden on our economy, even at the risk of bankrupting small businesses and destroying jobs. I am committed to tax relief for working families and tax incentives for businesses to create jobs," McCain says.

Obama, of course, would dispute that characterization. He says his proposals would give tax cuts to 95 percent of working Americans and would provide far more relief to the middle class than McCain.

The Arizona senator scoffs at that pledge, saying, "Senator Obama assures us that he has a very clear target of just the top five percent of income earners. And anytime you hear talk of a targeted tax increase, you might want to double-check the skill of the marksman -- the US Congress has been known to fire wildly. Remember the Alternative Minimum Tax? You probably do if you're one of the more than 30 million Americans currently threatened by it. That "targeted tax" was originally aimed at just 155 specific people. Once enacted, taxes have a way of spreading and rising. And that is why, as president, I am going to put a stop to the out of control spending, so we can keep taxes low."

"The McCain-Palin tax cut is the real thing," McCain adds. "We're going to double the child deduction for every family. We will cut the capital gains tax. And we will cut business taxes to help create jobs, and keep American businesses in America."

He does not mention one of the more costly -- and most controversial -- parts of his tax plan: extending the Bush tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000 a year.

Instead, McCain talks about his proposals to directly help homeowners with underwater mortgages, to assist retirees slammed by the market nose-dive, and to cut spending.

"The explosion of government spending over the last eight years has put us deeper in debt to foreign countries that don't have our best interests at heart. It weakened the dollar and made everything you buy more expensive," he says.

"I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren't working for the American people."