WASHINGTON — Trying to link Barack Obama to higher taxes, John McCain hit hard at his rival's voting record and tax proposals in Tuesday's debate but made a number of misleading statements in the process.
Again, the Arizona Republican overstated Obama's past support for tax increases and claimed that Obama's proposed tax plan would mean higher taxes than independent analyses have suggested.
When the debate turned to foreign policy, Obama overstated Iraq's budget deficit as he argued for a reduction in U.S. military involvement.
Presidential debate: An article in Wednesday's Section A that fact-checked statements the presidential candidates made during their debate said Democrat Barack Obama had misstated Iraq's budget deficit. He misstated Iraq's budget surplus. Also, the article referred to a study of Iraq's budget by the General Accountability Office. The name of the agency is the Government Accountability Office.
McCain, meanwhile, suggested greater similarities between planned military strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq than the senior commander in the Middle East has indicated.
Tax hikes
McCain again charged that Obama voted to raise taxes 94 times, which the nonpartisan Factcheck.org identified as one of the "whoppers of 2008."
According to the group's analysis, 23 of the votes were against tax cuts. Seven would have raised taxes for some but lowered taxes for others. Eleven would have increased taxes on those making more than $1 million a year. Factcheck.org also found that 53 of the 94 votes were on nonbinding measures, which would not have resulted in any tax change.
Business taxes
McCain said Obama "will increase taxes on 50% of small-business revenue."
But according to the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a joint effort by two Washington think tanks, less than 3% of small businesses pay taxes in the top two brackets and could therefore see higher taxes. And for most of those small businesses, business revenue represents less than half of their income.
Tax history
McCain said the last president to raise taxes during "tough economic times" was Herbert Hoover.
In fact, President George H.W. Bush signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, increasing taxes as part of a budget deal with the Democratic-controlled Congress.
The nation was in a recession at the time, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
McCain said that government-sponsored mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "were the catalyst, the match that started this forest fire" in the economy and that he had "stood up" to them.
