Where they stand

Here’s where the presidential candidates stand on some economic issues.

John McCain, Republican

On taxes, he’d keep most rates where they are, phasing out the alternative minimum tax, cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, maintaining tax rates on dividends and capital gains, increasing deductions for some business expansion costs, and giving a 10 percent tax credit for research and development wages. McCain would reduce the estate tax to 15 percent and give a $10 million exemption.

McCain wants a “national commission on workplace flexibility” to study ways to modernize labor laws and training programs, make health care portable and expand retirement plans. He wants to expand exports by reducing trade barriers. He recently proposed a plan to allow some homeowners facing foreclosure to swap subprime mortgages for 30-year fixed mortgages on their residences.

Online: johnmccain.com/issues.

Barack Obama, Democrat

Obama wants a $500-a-person tax credit for workers. He wants to eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 and raise taxes to pre-2001 levels for those making more than $250,000. He wants to give a tax credit for homeowners with mortgages who don’t itemize deductions, and he wants to enact a windfall profits tax on “excessive” oil profits. He wants to renegotiate NAFTA, expand federal aid to service workers who lose jobs to foreign competition, end tax breaks to companies that send jobs to other countries, and give a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase their work force. He would require more accurate disclosure of terms for home mortgages, increase prosecution of fraud in the subprime mortgage industry, and change the law so bankruptcy courts could order modifications for a bankruptcy filer’s mortgage payments.

Online: barackobama.com/issues.

Jim Camden