New McCain Ad: We Are All Joe The Plumber

John McCain is going all in on the Joe-the-plumber meme with a television ad this morning that showcases other small business owners -- all claiming to be veritable Joe the Plumbers themselves -- criticizing Barack Obama's tax policies.

"Spread the wealth?" the anchor asks.

"I'm supposed to work harder..." says one man.

"Just to pay more taxes," says another.

"Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending?"

The spot, titled "Sweat Equity," was rumored to be in the works yesterday and it pushes an attack line that the McCain-Palin ticket has been whacking at all week: mainly, that Obama's policies are socialistic, bad for these economic times, and destined to raise taxes on small business owners. At least two of those three claims seem recognizably baseless.

But Joe the Plumber hasn't exactly worked as a campaign tool for McCain. A Suffolk University poll of Ohio and Missouri released last week found only a handful of voters in those two states said that Joe Wurzelbacher's complaints about Obama made them more likely to vote for the Republican candidate.

The ad, according to the McCain campaign, will be televised in key states.

Comments

[Totto]

Is that the "Joe" who lied about being a union plumber?

[GoodGuysandBadGuys]

so we've all got fake names, are unemployed, and are tax cheats?

[borgo]

You can just call me "Borgo the Voter" and rest assured that I'll be voting Obama/Biden

[jsar70]

"Barack Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollar spending?"

Uh yeah, dummy, just like Bush wanted you to pay for his war, which you happily obliged. They're called TAXES, how else do you expect us to pay off the eight years of Bush's capital gluttony?

Maybe Joe the Plumber can plunge the debt down the toilet.

[comeonnov5]

LOL!!

[Last-LiberalRepublicans]

HAHAHAHA! GREAT RESPONSE! We should put that in a RESPONSE AD!!

[annecoulter]

Since when is the American Dream sucking every last dime possible out of the system?

Just looking at republicans, that wasn't Teddy Roosevelt's idea of the American dream. That wasn't Abe Lincoln's American dream.

I have a household income over $250,000. Ten years ago we had a household income of less than $40,000. As someone who has experienced both sides of the track, the little extra tax paid on the higher income is not missed. In percentage terms it is NOTHING.

People who argue against progressive tax are juvenile, short-sighted, nasty economic thugs. The Republican argument makes no sense to someone who is actually in the upper bracket. It only makes sense to ignorant people with no idea. To them, an extra $5000 or $8000 tax is a huge amount. That is because they are coming at it from an income of $40,000. For someone with a $40,000 income it is a huge sum. For someone making $250,000 it is not.

[ladydriver]

Thank you.

[Jeff1958]

Along those same lines, Warren Buffett and I both pay about $7000 annually for Social Security. For me, that's about 7% of my income. For Buffett, it's about 0.0000007% of his income.

Here's my idea: everyone pays 7% for SS. Problem solved.

[annecoulter]

Good point. The government stops taking SS deductions out of my pay in August or September. I'm maxed out.

I'll tell you, it was a shock the first time it happened. I thought I got a small raise.

I agree with you, it just doesn't make sense.

[whoopingcrone]

It's hard to vote in line with your own interests if you don't know what they are, and this bunch seems not to.
Perhaps a counter-ad explaining the difference between "gross income" and "net income"?
Preceded by a crash course in remedial math?

[JaniceL]

Yet more evidence of how out of touch McCain is. He wouldn't drop the Ayers/ACORN attacks when all polls showed they clearly weren't working for him, then he trots out Joe the Plant that no one cares about and continues to use Joe the Tax Evading Fraud way past his expiration date to no avail. I'm waiting for Jeremiah Wright to rear his head over the airspace of Alaska any day now since that story hasn't gotten enough coverage yet. You can just smell the desperation.

[flifishun]

Joe the Poser. Not a plumber. Does not own a business. Could not afford his own business.
Living on pipe dreams.

[Brian187]

I'm not Joe the Plumber. I'm Brian the CPA, and I do own my business. I don't take enough home after all the deductions to be above the high income threshold, and neither do any of the small businesses that I do tax work for. Joe the Plumber wouldn't either...i­f he actually owned his business. I pay my employees well, provide health insurance, and still manage to make enough to live comfortably. That's my story...an­d I voted for Obama yesterday in Texas.

[DRaymond]

How many of those people look like they expect to net over a quarter million next year?

NOBODY is Joe the Plumber. Even Joe the Plumber isn't Joe the Plumber. He not only doesn't net a quarter of a million now he stands almost no chance of doing so if he bought the small business he is thinking of. (Presuming of course he actually gets a plumber's license first!)

And NOBODY with the business accumen to have a chance to buy a small business that stands to net over a quarter million in the first year is going to change their mind because the marginal tax on the earnings over a quarter million will be 39 rather than 36 percent.

Joe the Plumber is a myth designed to scare ordinary people to vote against their own self interest.

[phoebie]

I am Phoebie Joe your small business owner. I am licensed, bonded, pay for my employees' health insurance, and pay my taxes. I buy sensibly priced clothing befitting my business and have a 95% retention rate for my customers over 20 years. I have one simple credo - treat customers and employees as I would like to be treated with respect and dignity. AND I am voting for Obama.

[PlagueRat]

Are we still talking about this? For the love of god, when will this guy's 15 minutes be up?

[Opt1musPr1me]

You know what amazes me about the McCain campaign and I am sure I speak for many of you. They insist on injecting "Joe the plumber" into their campaign rhetoric when the individual claiming to be a plumber isn't really named Joe and isn't really a plumber. He also had no plans or money to buy that so called business he spoke to Obama about. He also owes taxes and only made $40k in 2006 which means that if this is his salary, he would benefit big time from Obama's tax plan. So why does the McCain campaign insist on using this character in their speeches and ads and blame the Obama Campaign for ruining his privacy? These are the things that has helped to dig the McCain campaign in the current hole they sit in. The erratic nature of their whole operation is just unprecedented. Now they have this stupid ad with these naive individuals talking about they're all "Joe the plumber". The republicans always seem to use individuals like these to sum up what they call the real America. "Joe the plumber" does not represent me in no way shape or form.

[bogues]

The people who appeared in this ad look like out and out fools. I swear, it boggles the mind to think these people could really believe what they are saying. I would walk on hot coals before I would sell my integrity and my intellect to appear in an ad like that.

[independent32955]

The reason this "Joe the Plumber" crap works on average Americans is that they think if you "make" 250K a year, that we're talking about salary/earnings received as a payroll...­that is because for the majority of middle class Americans that is how they receive their money.

A BUSINESS OWNER is not taxed on what the business earns, but rather what it earns LESS deductions.

If I have a business that earns 1M a year, have 10 employees roughly earning 40k a year (400k) , have business expenses for advertising, capital equipment investments/assets (200k), pay myself a salary (150k) and then have healthcare plans, profit sharing (150k) I will have only 100k left that needs to be taxed by the government.

In this case, if I am an S-Corp the corporate tax follows down to me at the personal level, but all the items above are deductions to the business, so 1M in earnings - 900k deductions = 100k taxable income...t­hat 100k + my 150k base salary means I will have 250k calculated for my taxes...bu­t that also means I am employing 10 people with healthcare and profit sharing and putting a nice chunk of change in my own pocket and believe me there are plenty of tax loop holes to take advantage of in the current system.

The Republicans therefore are basically FULL of it.

[ITSDEE]

THANK YOU INDEPENDEN­T32955!!!!­, FOR TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN THIS TO SOME VERY GULLIBLE FOLKS OUT THERE. HOPEFULLY, THEY WILL TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND IT.

[LisaLisa1234]

Thank you.

Why is this so difficult for small business owners to understand?

Can we put you in an ad? :)

I also report taxes as a small business owner...an­d although I'm nowhere near 250k, we have been & will continue to be fine under Obama.

Not to mention, I'd much rather my tax dollars support programs I believe in, rather than subsidize oil companies.