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Obama would cut taxes for workers
He wants to shift the tax burden to corporations and wealthy investors, but he didn't cover many specifics.
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WASHINGTON - Expanding on his anti-Washington theme, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Tuesday that he would take back tax breaks from wealthy interests to provide $80 billion annually in relief for workers, seniors and homeowners.
The Illinois senator said connected corporations and wealthy investors have benefited in the current tax code and it's time to give money back to the workers who fuel the U.S. economy.
Obama's plan was short on some specifics. But he said he would give 150 million workers a $500 payroll tax credit, expand relief on mortgage interest, eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 and simplify returns so millions can file in less than five minutes.
Obama's 20-minute speech to the Tax Policy Center included populist rhetoric combined with more detail about each of his tax cut proposals. But he spent just one minute on how he would pay for it, and neither he nor his campaign provided a breakdown of the revenue his plan would raise.
Clinton: Past failure on health care helps her
Thirteen years after presiding over the biggest policy debacle of her husband's presidency, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday her experience with failure makes her the one who can succeed in providing universal health coverage.
"If you don't learn from your mistakes, you stop growing," Clinton said in an interview with the Associated Press, insisting that Americans should trust her leadership on health care and other issues as she seeks a return to the White House in her own right.
She said her seven years in the Senate had taught her valuable lessons about the need for negotiation and compromise.
The New York Democrat presented her health care plan Monday in Iowa, promising to bring coverage to every American by building on the current employer-based system and using tax credits to make insurance more affordable. The centerpiece of her plan is a so-called "individual mandate," requiring everyone to have health insurance the way most states require drivers to purchase auto insurance.
Clinton's pragmatism about negotiating on health care and other issues has drawn considerable criticism from rival Democrat John Edwards. The 2004 vice presidential nominee has tried to paint Clinton as a tool of special interests in Washington and has panned her apparent willingness to allow political adversaries to have a role in crafting the health care overhaul.
Also Tuesday, Edwards' campaign denounced a fundraising luncheon that included sessions for Clinton donors with members of Congress who have expertise in homeland security.
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