McCain revamps plan for seniors, workers

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain on Tuesday unveiled $52.5 billion worth of proposals targeting seniors, workers and the unemployed in a bid to get a handle on an economy that's hurting him in the polls.

McCain, speaking in Blue Bell, Pa., outlined a plan that would allow people 59 and older who withdraw money from Individual Retirement Accounts or 401(k) retirement plans in 2008 and 2009 to pay an income tax rate of only 10 percent -- instead of the usually higher rates -- on the first $50,000 withdrawn each year. There would be no penalty for such withdrawals.

McCain's plan also calls for halving the capital gains tax on stocks purchased and held for more than a year from 15 percent to 7.5 percent for two years, increasing the tax write-off for stock losses from $3,000 to $15,000 for tax years 2008 and 2009 and suspending taxes on unemployment insurance benefits for those two years.

McCain also promised that as president he would order the Treasury Department to guarantee 100 percent of all savings for six months. Such a guarantee, above the $250,000 now in force, would ease consumer fears of bank failures and restore "rational judgment to the choices of the market," he said.

"These are all targeted at people who have been hurt by the recent financial crisis: seniors, savers, workers, people who are trying to get to college," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's chief economic adviser.

'So much on the line'

The Arizona senator's plan added to his previous proposals, including having the Treasury Department buy troubled mortgages, giving qualified homeowners government-guaranteed, low-interest mortgages and suspending rules that require investors to begin withdrawing from their IRAs and 401(k)s when they reach age 70 1/2.

The nation's economic crisis has hurt McCain's campaign, as poll after poll finds that voters trust Democrat Barack Obama more in handling the economy, often by wide margins.

The Illinois senator's campaign quickly dismissed McCain's plan as a risky venture that provides little tax relief to millions of Americans, particularly senior citizens.

"John McCain's latest gambit is a day late and 101 million middle-class families short," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton charged in an e-mail statement. "Senator McCain also shows how little he understands the economy by offering lower capital gains rates in a year in which people don't have an awful lot of capital gains."

McCain's plan came a day after Obama proposed $60 billion worth of new ideas to revive the ailing economy, including a tax credit to spur companies to hire more workers and a new way for consumers to cash out up to 15 percent of their IRAs or 401(k)s without early withdrawal penalties.

Obama's new ideas

McCain charged that Obama's plan would harm the economy further by overly encouraging early withdrawal from retirement accounts.

"This is an invitation to capital flight and therefore to continued instability in the market at a moment when exactly the opposite is needed," McCain said. "Any family that takes part in this will not see the benefits of the market recovery that smart policy can help bring out."

Economic experts say that both plans would add to the federal budget deficit. Rudy Penner, an Urban Institute analyst and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said he didn't embrace either plan for that reason.