Obama returns amid tax flak
Barack Obama returns to campaign trail amid sustained attack over 'socialist' tax plans from John McCain
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Saturday, 25, Oct 2008 07:39
Barack Obama was due to return to the campaign trail on Saturday amid a sustained attack over his 'socialist' tax plans.
Republican nominee John McCain said his Democratic rival for the presidency was taking a "tax and spend" approach to every problem in the United States.
Mr Obama, who is taking a two-day break from campaigning to visit his ill grandmother in Hawaii, has pledged to cut taxes for 95 per cent of Americans.
But his plan to end tax cuts for the top five per cent of earners has been seized upon by Arizona senator Mr McCain, 72.
"He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs," he told supporters in Colorado.
"Senator Obama may say he's trying to soak the rich, but it's the middle class who are going to get put through the wringer, because a lot of his promised tax increase misses the target."
Mr Obama's campaign team has responded by accusing Mr McCain of "desperate and dishonest attacks".
With less than a fortnight until the elections on November 4th, Mr Obama, junior senator for Illinois, has seen his lead over Mr McCain in the opinion polls eroded slightly in recent days.
Speaking from Hawaii, the 47-year-old said he did not regret telling Ohio businessman Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – the Joe the plumber of the third presidential debate fame - that he wanted to "spread the wealth around".
"For us to want to continue to give tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthiest, instead of the middle class that are desperately in need of some help right now, would not only be bad for the families, it would be bad as the economy as a whole," he told ABC News.