Obama's plan is described in some detail here.

And yes, Obama himself has used the misleading term "95 percent of Americans," so we can drop that crap. He has also used the words "workers" and "families." He's counting on voters taking a speech they heard to the polling booth and not looking into the fine print. I recall a lot of indignation about this sort of thing a few years back.

Note that most of the most of his "cuts" are credits, i.e. the government takes it away from those who earn it, then passes it out to favored constituencies.

Note also how the term "cut" and "credit" are used as though they were identical. They're not. Only credits demand the government as a "middle man."

Obama's tax rates are mostly compared with the 1980s and 1990s. Note the "lower rates than under Reagan," referring to this link. If some rare nosy type actually follows the reference up, he may see why Obama doesn't want to compare his marginal rates with those under the Bush administration.

Obama's plan will cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan (less than 18.2 percent of GDP). The Obama tax plan is a net tax cut--his tax relief for middle class families is larger than the revenue raised by his tax changes for families over $250,000. Coupled with his commitment to cut unnecessary spending, Obama will pay for this tax relief while bringing down the budget deficit.

This deficit reduction in the face of actual reduced revenues will apparently be done by magic. His list of cuts, given later in the document, would mostly be lost in the noise of the Federal Budget ("reforming student loans??")

Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the taxes they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility.

I just put this last quote from Obama's plan down for completeness. Probably I'm the only one here who feels horror at how that is worded, and what it implies about the thinking processes of those who wrote it.

* * *

For a more detailed look at taxing and spending policies from both campaigns, this paper is useful.

Note that both campaigns promise an eventual surplus, but when I go down the list, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm seeing mostly "magic" from McCain as well. As the paper dryly points out:

The level of detail for these policies—those that would
save money—is far less than for many of the tax cut and spending policies that would cost money. We leave it to the reader to make their own determinations about how to evaluate these numbers.

Wait for the "I tried as hard as I could to cut taxes" speeches.

Of course, nobody from either side really wants to go anywhere near entitlements. When the eventual blowup comes, remember that.