During last night’s presidential campaign, Joe the Plumber, or Joe Wurzelbacher from Holland, Ohio, was mentioned more times than the war in Iraq. Why? What does a small town plumber have to do with the big time issues in this presidential campaign?
Joe asked candidate Barack Obama a simple question on Sunday in Ohio. He asked if he bought the small business he has been working for all his life, would he have to pay more taxes because it makes over $250,000. The answer from Obama is unfortunately yes. Obama believes this is the only way to fix the economy while still keeping most of America happy: tax small businesses and people that make over $250,000 a year. In the debate last night, Obama defended himself by saying “Not only do 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, but I also want to give them additional tax breaks, because they are the drivers of the economy, they produce the most jobs.”
John McCain, on the other hand, believes the answer to that question should be no. He used it as an attack in last night’s debate. “Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes,” McCain spoke directly to Joe saying, “I want to tell you, I’ll not only help you buy that business that you worked your whole life for and I’ll keep your taxes low and I’ll provide available and affordable health care for you and your employees. And I will not stand for a tax increase on small business income.”
McCain may have thought he could win over some of Obama’s votes by bringing in Joe the Plumber, but the problem is that not very many Americans can actually relate to Joe’s problem. There aren’t very many people in America in a position to buy a small business, especially with the economy crashing left and right. And more often than not, when one does buy a small business, their tax bracket will increase. It is just a matter of simple math. When you make more money, you pay more taxes, no matter who is president – this is how it works, unless you happen to be Exxon-Mobil, anyway. Many small business owners do in fact make less than $250,000 a year, Obama is correct on that one. But most importantly, putting Joe the Plumber’s problem at center stage during the presidential debate takes time out of talking about most American’s concerns.
Tags: Barack Obama, Joe the plumber, John McCain, Presidential Debate
