JOHN MCCAIN: $1.5 TRILLION IN LESS REVENUE

Tax cuts: McCain's proposed tax cuts would mean about $1.5 trillion in less revenue over his term, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Extending the Bush income tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 beyond their scheduled 2010 expiration would account for more than a third of that total. He also would change the alternative minimum tax to hit fewer middle-income taxpayers, reduce corporate income taxes and accelerate business write-offs for equipment. The 10-year cost of McCain's tax plan would be as much as $4.2 trillion, the center says.

Health plan: The Republican's health plan mostly aims to reduce prices. McCain also would provide a tax credit of up to $5,000 a family to purchase insurance, at a cost of about $800 billion through 2013. To partly offset that, he would make workers' employer-provided health benefits taxable as income. He also proposes savings from unspecified changes in Medicare and Medicaid.

Spending: McCain has fewer spending initiatives than Obama. To help balance the budget, McCain claims billions of dollars in savings from reducing forces in Iraq. By his final budget for 2013, McCain estimated he would cut $114 billion -- he does not say how -- to reach balance in 2013. Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a centrist watchdog group, estimated McCain could fall about $600 billion short in 2013, about the annual cost of Medicare.

BARACK OBAMA: $1 TRILLION REVENUE LOSS

Tax cuts: Obama would extend the Bush tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year and repeal them for those above that level. He would cut other taxes, including for low-income workers and small businesses, and raise taxes on the dividends and capital gains of the affluent. Like McCain, he would change the alternative minimum tax to apply only to the rich, as intended. The Tax Policy Center estimated that the overall revenue loss would be nearly $1 trillion for Obama's term, and $2.9 trillion measured over a decade.

Health plan: Obama says the new revenue from higher taxes on the well-off would pay for his health plan, which would cost about $115 billion the first year, but increase after that. That still leaves his tax cuts for everyone else to add to the deficits.

Spending: Obama's spending plans, beyond his health care initiative, would mean increases for education, infrastructure, research and foreign aid, and more for boosting the military than McCain has proposed. He has a more ambitious climate change proposal, mandating that companies buy emissions permits at government auctions. The Congressional Budget Office estimates those could bring in up to $300 billion annually by 2020. Obama would use the initial revenues for energy initiatives and tax rebates to offset many Americans' fuel costs.

NEW YORK TIMES