12 minus 5 equals 7, right? I mean, if you have 12 toes -- bear with me here -- and a wild cannibal from Kenya came along and ate five of them -- just kidding! -- you would only have seven left, wouldn't you?
But you didn't start off with twelve toes. And that's Sen. Joe Biden's problem. When Joe says Sen. John McCain's healthcare plan would raise your taxes, he shows very, very poor math skills.
In Joe's example, a person making $50,000 a year with $12,000 in employer-provided health benefits would have $62,000 taxable income under McCain's plan. Then, Joe says, McCain's $5000 tax credit would leave $7000 subject to taxation and would, therefore, represent a tax increase.
The problem with this is that a taxpayer under these circumstances is in the 15% tax bracket. So the federal tax due on the $12,000 would be only $1800. The $5000 tax credit would more than make up for the taxable health benefits.
Again 12-5=7. But that wasn't the question for Joe. It was 18-50=-32, if you follow me.
And this guy wants to be a heartbeat away from leadership of the free world. Ha!
