LA Times uncritically quoted McCain falsely claiming that Obama will "raise your taxes"

Summary: The Los Angeles Times uncritically quoted Sen. John McCain asserting of Sen. Barack Obama, "[H]is plan is to raise your taxes and spend more of your money," without noting that the claim is false. Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families, and McCain's own chief economic adviser has reportedly said it is inaccurate to say that "Barack Obama raises taxes."

In an August 8 Los Angeles Times article, staff writer Bob Drogin uncritically quoted Sen. John McCain asserting of Sen. Barack Obama, "[H]is plan is to raise your taxes and spend more of your money," without noting that the claim is false. As Media Matters for America has noted, Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families, and McCain's own chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has reportedly said it is inaccurate to say that "Barack Obama raises taxes."

A recent analysis of the candidates' tax plans by the Tax Policy Center found that "Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes," while "Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers."

From Drogin's August 8 article in the Los Angeles Times:

Earlier Thursday, McCain used a town hall in Lima, Ohio, to step up his attacks on Obama.

"Sen. Obama says he's going to change Washington," McCain said, reading from prepared remarks. "But his plan is to raise your taxes and spend more of your money. It's not my idea of a solution to what troubles Washington. In fact, it sounds a lot like the problem."

Obama's words, he said, "for all their eloquence and passion, don't mean all that much."

"And that's the problem in our nation's capital. It's not just the Bush administration, and it's not just the Democratic Congress. It's that everyone in Washington says whatever it takes to get elected or to score the political point of the day," said McCain, who has served 26 years in Congress.

—M.W.