A Stitch in Haste

Barack Obama:

There has to be a restoration of balance in our tax code. ... There's no doubt that the tax system has been skewed. ... Middle class families are getting squeezed.

Hillary Clinton:

Middle-class and working families are paying a much higher percentage of their income.

John McCain:

I cannot support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.

Reality:


(Click to enlarge.)
Note that this graph reflects Social Security and Medicare taxes. Subtract those out (which would be more intellectually consistent since Social Security and Medicare are programs and not merely "taxes"), and the bottom two quintiles actually go negative and the middle quintile essentially becomes zero.

Combine that graph with this one:


(Click to enlarge.)
and any argument that the tax code is geared to benefit the wealthy becomes an insolent joke.

A vote for Obama is a vote for a willful liar. A vote for Clinton is a vote for a willful liar. A vote for McCain is a vote for a (flip-flopping) willful liar.

Do not pretend that you don't know this. Do not pretend that they don't know this.

(Via Kruse Kronicle by way of Greg Mankiw.)