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"I voted to extend them because it would have the effect of having a tax increase. The tax cuts have increased revenues enormously. They've been very beneficial. The problem is that spending has lurched completely out of control. My proposal was to restrain spending. I do not support tax increases. And the effect of not making them permanent would have the effect of a tax increase."
Meet the Press: Meet the Candidates 2008 series May 13, 2007
Q: You opposed President Bush's 2001 tax cuts. Now you say you were wrong. How can you convince Republican voters you will push a Democratic Congress hard enough to make those tax cuts permanent? A: I didn't say that I was wrong. I said that the reason why I opposed those tax cuts was because we didn't rein in spending. And the fact is the tax cuts have dramatically increased revenues. If we don't make them permanent, then every business, farm and family in America will have to adjust their budgets to what is in effect a tax increase. In 2001, I proposed massive tax cuts, but I also proposed to rein in spending. Spending is out of control. We didn't lose the 2006 election because of the war in Iraq; we lost it because we in the Republican Party came to Washington to change government and government changed us. We let spending go out of control. We spent money like a drunken sailor, although I never knew a sailor drunk or sober with the imagination of my colleagues.
2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina May 15, 2007
"It is time to help hard-working Americans, and it is time to make sure Washington never stops working for them. I promise to take care of American families by cutting taxes for the middle class by $60 billion in a single year."
In 2000, McCain's tax cut plan was valued at $238 billion over five years; and $500 billion over 10 years. Its centerpiece is an expansion of the lowest income tax bracket, the 15% bracket, to cover higher incomes. Today, McCain says he supports the Bush tax cuts and has no plans to raise taxes, but refuses to sign a no-new taxes pledge. Under the plan, the ceiling for the 15% bracket would rise to $70,000 from $43,050 for married couples filing jointly, and to $35,000 from $25,750 for single taxpayers. The effect is to give a $3,504 tax cut to a couple with taxable income of $70,000 or more.
New York Times, p. 22 Feb 27, 2000
"But look, we're mortgaging our children's futures. We Republicans are the party of the balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. His [President Bush] comment is that at some undetermined time, we're going to cut the deficit in half. Half of a half-a-trillion-dollar debt on an annual basis? We've become totally fiscally irresponsible, and it's disgraceful."
Voted YES on balanced-budget amendment
S. J. Res. 1; Bill S. J. Res. 1 ; vote number 1997-24 on Mar 4, 1997
Q: Do you support a "Fair Tax"? A: "I do not. I think we should look very carefully at it. I think we should look at what the Wall Street Journal said could increase an individuals taxation up into the 30s (%). Obviously we need a simpler, fairer tax code -- everybody knows that. We need to have a commission that reports out a credible propose, and then we do what we do with base closing commissions... Congress can't fool around with them, just a yes or a no. If Congress can't fix the problem, elect me and I will do it." - Question 9
Wants a "simpler, flatter, fair tax so that Americans don't have to spend $140 billion to prepare their tax returns."
In 2000, pitched a plan to expand the 15% tax bracket
New York Times, p. A21 Jan 11, 2000
"I am concerned that repeal of the estate tax would provide massive benefits solely to the wealthiest and highest-income taxpayers in the country. A Treasury Department study found that almost no estate tax has been paid by lower- and middle-income taxpayers."
Voted YES on raising estate tax exemption to $5 million
Kyl Amendment; Bill S.Amdt.507 on S.Con.Res.21 ; vote number 2007-083 on Mar 21, 2007
Voted YES on supporting permanence of estate tax cuts
Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act; Bill H.R. 5970 ; vote number 2006-229 on Aug 3, 2006
Voted YES on permanently repealing "death tax."
Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act; Bill HR 8 ; vote number 2006-164 on Jun 8, 2006
"I think we've got to eliminate the marriage penalty, the earnings test, raise the 15% tax bracket, put a level of $5 million on the inheritance tax. But this tax code is 44,000 pages long. It's an abomination. It's a cornucopia of good deals for the special interests and it’s a nightmare for American citizens."
Phoenix Arizona GOP Debate Dec 7, 1999
Voted YES on eliminating marriage penalty
Bill HR.4810 ; vote number 2000-215 on Jul 18, 2000
Called for the marriage penalty's "reduction" in 1999
Candidacy Declaration Speech, Nashua NH Sep 27, 1999
"I will also send to the Congress a middle-class tax cut -- a complete phase-out of the Alternative Minimum Tax to save more than 25 million middle-class families more than 2,000 dollars every year."
Democrats say that [McCain's] four proposed cuts - a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, immediate tax breaks for corporate investment, a repeal of the alternative minimum tax and doubling the value of exemptions for dependents to $7,000 from $3,500 - are more regressive than Mr. Bush’s tax cuts because they favor the rich more disproportionately than the president's reductions did. Mr. McCain's advisers said his plan would help stimulate job creation by reducing taxes on small businesses, especially those that pay taxes at the personal income tax rate, and would be part of a fiscal plan that would also emphasize reining in the growth of government spending far more than Mr. Bush did.
"The alternative minimum tax is obviously eating Americans alive, and it's got to be repealed. Another one I think is important is a $3,000 tax credit for people to be able to purchase health insurance. So low-income Americans will have access to health care, which is an amazing and difficult problem today. And a simpler, flatter, fair tax so that Americans don't have to spend $140 billion to prepare their tax returns."
2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC May 3, 2007
"Well, let's look at one aspect of Warren Buffet's great wealth due to his great genius and one graded the most respected person in America - capital gains taxes. Every time in history that we reduced capital gains taxes, there has been an increase in revenue going back to Jack Kennedy."
Voted NO on $47B for military by repealing capital gains tax cut
Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act; Bill S Amdt 2737 to HR 4297 ; vote number 2006-008 on Feb 2, 2006
Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends
Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act; Bill HR 4297 ; vote number 2006-010 on Feb 2, 2006
Voted YES on extending the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends
Tax Relief Act of 2005; Bill S. 2020 ; vote number 2005-347 on Nov 18, 2005
Q: Was it a good idea for the federal government to intervene in Bear Stearns? Mr. McCain: I think we had to. American is in extremely difficult economic times. I agree with literally every expert on the economy. If Bear Stearns had collapsed it would have had a ripple effect in the market. And that’s why this latest mortgage crisis with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are, excuse me, with the home loan mortgage people, is that we worry of the ripple effect of their collapse. And so, we’re going to have to contemplate what needs to be done now, We have a worsening economy. And I agree with Paulson, I agree with literally every economist in America that said that Bear Stearns, if they had collapsed, would have had a ripple effect, would have been very harmful to the American economy.
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain indicated they will not stand in the way of the Bush administration's $700 billion rescue of U.S. financial markets, and each offered his own proposals for making it more palatable to voters: Obama laid out a plan to overhaul federal contracting and save an estimated $40 billion a year, while McCain proposed an oversight board to monitor the bailout.
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain called Monday for bipartisan oversight of the Bush Administration's proposed bailout of the U.S. financial markets. Campaigning in Scranton, Pa., McCain said the current plan makes him "deeply uncomfortable" because one man, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, would have control over all that money.
McCain has so far refused to publicly say whether he will support or oppose the final bailout plan in the Senate, even as he has made his objections to the package clear.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Tuesday renewed his insistence that the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan for U.S. financial markets ensure that "taxpayers' dollars don't line the pockets of executives."
Both presidential candidates intensified their efforts Tuesday to help push the financial bailout plan through Congress, lobbying skeptical lawmakers and warning publicly that a failure to act would cause a widespread economic crisis that would hurt regular people, not just financiers. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both began the day suggesting a change in the bailout legislation to raise the federal insurance limit on bank deposits to $250,000 from $100,000, a move that had originally been sought by House Republicans, whose overwhelming opposition doomed the bill on Monday. And both men used their campaign appearances Tuesday to press for action in Congress.
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain put their battleground campaigning temporarily on hold and returned to Washington on Wednesday to vote in favor of the $700 billion financial rescue package, the consequences of which will help frame the remainder of the fall presidential race.