I don't really want to spend a lot of time on "Joe the Plumber," who turns out to be a guy named Sam who occasionally does some plumbing. But the basic point is that this is stupid. No one knows plumbers making $250,000 a year. Joe/Sam does not make $250,000 a year. He earns less than $100,000. That's to be expected: Skilled blue collar workers tend to make between $40,000 and $100,000, and these folks get a larger tax cut under Barack Obama's tax plan than under John McCain's. To make life simple, imagine a blue collar worker who makes $75,000 a year. Married. One kid. Under Obama's plan, he gets a $478.92 tax cut. Under McCain's plan, he gets $441.59. Change the income to $50,000, and he gets a $468.72 tax cut from Obama, and a $400.34 tax cut from McCain. Obama's plan is better for real blue collar workers. McCain's plan may be better for imaginary blue collar workers who make $250,000, but that's neither here nor there. If you want to play along at home, you can screw around with a tax calculator and different income inputs here.
