In an October 22 article, The Washington Times uncritically reported that Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin “slamm[ed]” Sen. Barack Obama “for supporting higher taxes,” but it did not point out that Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income taxpayers and raising taxes on only individuals earning more than $200,000 per year and families earning more than $250,000 per year. As Media Matters for America has noted, the Tax Policy Center concluded that compared with McCain, “Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers.” Even McCain's own chief economic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has reportedly said it is inaccurate to say that “Barack Obama raises taxes.” Further, as FactCheck.org wrote in response to a prior McCain claim that Obama's plan would increase taxes on small-business owners: "[T]he overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected."

From the October 22 Washington Times article:

Mr. McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, responded in a joint statement, slamming Mr. Obama for supporting higher taxes and protectionist trade policies that will “make hard economic times worse.”

“We oppose harmful attempts to just 'spread the wealth,' ” they said. “Our job-creating economic plan is the best path for the economy and includes the types of policies that the Congress should consider.”

The Democratic presidential nominee led Mr. McCain by five percentage points in a nationwide CNN poll Monday, and state-by-state surveys show him up in at least eight states Mr. Bush won in 2004.