NBC Gives Obama Tax Proposal Favorable Treatment to McCain's

"Here's what an Obama world would look like: The vast majority of households would pay less tax, not more ... What would John McCain's world look like? The top 1 percent of earners would see their taxes go down, an average of $50,000."

That sounds like a television ad for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, but it actually came from NBC's Sept. 22 broadcast of "Nightly News." CNBC correspondent Carl Quintanilla gave an analysis of the two presidential candidates' tax proposals. But according to the report, the middle class stand to gain more from an Obama tax proposal.

"Amid all the rhetoric here's one easy way to look at taxes," Quintanilla said. "A middle-class household earning $38,000 to $66,000 a year would get an average tax cut under McCain of $325, under Obama, $1,100. Sound simple? It isn't. The government suddenly has a trillion dollars in bailouts and the candidates disagree on how to tax the wealthiest Americans, the top 1 percent, to pay for it."

Quintanilla laid the basic proposals out for viewers. According to the CNBC reporter, McCain favors more money in the hands of Americans and Obama favors higher taxes on some with the tax revenues going to those "left behind."

"Either their taxes should be kept low as McCain says - so they'll keep spending and employing Americans with their small businesses," Quintanilla said, "or they should pay more, as Obama says, with that money going to help Americans he claims were left behind in our 20-year economic boom."

Quintanilla implied the wealthy would benefit from McCain's plan, but didn't mention that all tax brackets would see lower tax bills under his proposal, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis Quintanilla cited in his report. He referred to the Center as "non-partisan," but it is run by the left-leaning Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

"Obama's plan would greatly accelerate the decades-long trend toward a federal government that depends for tax revenue almost exclusively on a few high-income people. ...1.13 million Americans would pay more in all federal taxes than 128 million of their fellow citizens combined," the Tax Foundation reported.

Raising taxes in a fragile economy - as identified by Ed Morrissey of Hot Air on Sept. 8 - would not be a good idea.

"Obama acknowledged in an ABC interview that rescinding the Bush tax cuts in a recession - as he has described the economy - would be destructive," Morrissey wrote.