Joe the plumber’s income

During the last presidential debate, all ears went for Joe McCain’s “plumber story” in which Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a Toledo plumber criticized Obama’s tax proposals. On October 12, as Barack Obama was canvassing his neighborhood, he said was about to buy a business that earns as much as $280,000 a year and asked the candidate: ``Do you believe in the American dream?'' citing the Democrat's proposed tax rate increase for Americans earning more than $250,000. ``I'm being taxed more and more for fulfilling the American dream.'' No only is Mr. Wurzelbacher not even licensed to practice plumbing, but he hasn't paid the taxes he already owes and has a tax lien against him for $1,182.98 and a second judgment against him was filed by a hospital for $1,261. Besides, the company McCain said the plumber wants to buy has annual sales of $510,000, according to Dun & Bradstreet. That makes it unlikely that Wurzelbacher's purchase would give him a taxable income of more than $200,000 -- leaving him unaffected by Obama's proposal to roll back tax breaks for those earning more than $250,000. The problem for McCain, is that the premise that Wurzelbacher would face higher taxes under Obama is neither true nor typical of how the vast majority of small businesses would fare.
Even if “Joe the plumber” earned an adjusted gross income of $280,000 he he would only pay $773 more in taxes under Obama's plan than McCain's. Earning that much would make our “plumber” very unusual among small businesses, as almost 95 percent of 21.5 million of them filing as sole proprietors had receipts under $100,000 in 2007.
Clearly, that all story is making McCain look like someone “who doesn’t get it” and frankly, I think more than 95% of all Americans believes that one quarter of a million dollars a year is a fat income that amply justifies paying a bit more taxes. This stupid Republican rhetoric of “spreading the wealth” is getting very tired indeed…