WSJ: Obama Fires Back on Taxes

Wall Street Journal:  Obama Fires Back on Taxes, by Jackie Calmes:

Barack Obama dismissed as old-style politics John McCain's and the Republican Party's warnings that he would be a tax-and-spend liberal. Most Americans, Sen. Obama said, would pay lower taxes if he is elected president.

The presumed Democratic nominee, taking questions from reporters Tuesday, also indicated he would raise the 15% capital-gains tax on the income from sales of investments to about 20% --not the near-doubling to 28% that Republicans and others have warned Sen. Obama would seek and would put the economy at some risk by doing so.

Sen. Obama said of the 20% rate, "my discussions with people like Warren Buffett indicate that it will probably not have any significant impact in terms of investment." Also, he said he would exempt small businesses and start-up companies from capital-gains taxes altogether, unlike Sen. McCain.

The Illinois senator said he would cut income taxes for 95% of American workers; only high-income Americans would pay more because Sen. Obama would let the Bush tax cuts expire for top-earners. His plan to shore up Social Security by raising the level of taxable wages wouldn't affect 97% of taxpayers, he added.