WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- John McCain is in New Hampshire today trying to win over fiscal conservatives by touting support for "repealing the alternative minimum tax, making permanent President Bush's tax cuts, and banning Internet and cell phone taxes." [New York Times, 12/18/07] The only problem? McCain's record.
While McCain isn't hesitating to use the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in his stump speech, he failed to show up to vote for a Senate bill a week and a half ago to provide 19 million taxpayers relief from the AMT. The votes he missed came after McCain's GOP colleagues forced Senate leadership to dump fiscal responsibility and eliminate requirements for the tax relief to be offset, adding $50 billion to the national debt. [U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session, Vote 00415 , Vote 00414 , 12/6/07; Senate Democratic Communications Center, 12/6/07' AP , 12/6/07]
On President Bush's tax cuts, McCain's record is even more troublesome. The Union Leader called McCain's support for the Bush tax cuts after having voted against them in 2001 as a "false step" and described his excuse as "lame and decidedly un-maverick." As the newspaper noted, McCain "voted against Bush's tax cuts when the nation's debt stood at $5.6 trillion and voted for the same tax cuts after the federal debt had bloated to $8.4 trillion." [Union Leader, 4/16/06]
"John McCain is really taxing his credibility in the Granite State today," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "McCain was against Bush's tax cuts before he was for them, and just a week and a half ago couldn't be bothered to show up to vote to give 19 million taxpayers relief from the AMT or challenge the Senate Republicans' fiscal recklessness. The American people don't want a third Bush term, but that seems to be all McCain is offering on fiscal responsibility."
McCain Skipped Vote To Relieve 19 Million Taxpayers of AMT. John McCain did not vote when the Senate took up AMT relief for 19 million taxpayers on December 6, 2007. McCain's Senate colleagues only allowed the bill to move forward after it was stripped of a measure to require the cost of the bill to be offset, which means the bill will add to the national debt. McCain missed that vote too. [U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session, Vote 00415, Vote 00414, 12/6/07; AP, 12/6/07]
McCain Once Opposed the Bush Tax Cuts. In 2001, McCain was one of two Republicans to join "the majority of Democrats against" President Bush's tax cut package." And when Senator McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2003, he wrote a letter to the President saying "I would still be open, at some point, to proposals to stimulate the economy with tax cuts. But not now. We should, Mr. President, take a pause in our efforts to increase spending on non-defense needs and to reduce taxes." On the floor of the Senate, McCain said "no one can be expected to make an informed decision on fiscal policy at this time with so many uncertain contingencies." McCain called on Congress to pause before passing tax cuts, saying, "Let us wait...it is far sounder statesmanship than cutting taxes in the dark, or running up spending [.]" [McCain Release, March 18, 2003; Senate vote #170, H.R. 1836, 5/26/01, passed 58-33; Baltimore Sun, 5/27/01]
But in 2006 McCain Voted For Bush Tax Cuts And Defended The Flip-Flop As A Legislative Gimmick. John McCain voted to extend tax cuts supported by the president that were set to expire between 2005 and 2010. "The Senate voted 53-47.in favor of extending the president's investor tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. Joining in this breakthrough vote was John McCain, the senator who voted against these tax cuts when they were introduced in 2003. This is an important shift for the GOP presidential frontrunner[.]" McCain's vote was described as "a sharp reversal of his anti-tax-cut posture," though he defended the shift, saying, "it was a gimmick," reasoning that "the tax cuts were temporary and then had to be made permanent. The tax cuts are now there and voting to revoke them would have been to--not to extend them would have meant a tax increase. I have never voted for a tax increase in my life." [Senate vote #10, H.R. 4297, 2/2/06, passed 66-31; New York Times, 2/21/06; Washington Times, 3/6/06; NBC News, 4/2/06]
Union Leader: McCain Tax Cut Vote Was A False Step For McCain. "The one false step in [McCain's] logical and legitimate courting of Bush voters in anticipation of the 2008 nomination was his explanation for his Senate vote to make permanent the same Bush's tax cuts on capital gains and dividend income he had earlier voted against. He offered a lame and decidedly un-maverick explanation of, "I have never voted for a tax increase." McCain has been an authentic hawk on federal spending and deficits. Yet he voted against Bush's tax cuts when the nation's debt stood at $5.6 trillion and voted for the same tax cuts after the federal debt had bloated to $8.4 trillion." [Union Leader, 4/16/06]
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