McCain's plans for, taxes, heathcare, war, and entitlements are detrimental for the middle-class.

As I do suppose, my opponent has allowed me to have the resolution with his provided topic. He will, of course be responsible for the refutation of my resolution, and not the other way around. In order to decrease extent of this argument I must ask my opponent to focus on the following resolution. [Resolution] It is Resolved: John McCains tax plan, healthcare plan, and his views on Social Security will not be detrimental to the current Middle Class. Additionally I resolve that the totality of John McCain's plan will not redistribute more wealth to the top 1-5% of America. [Definitions] Middle Class - In a poll conducted by CNN in 2003, 92% of all surveyed considered themselves to be of the middle class. One could consider themselves as the "Middle Class" for a wide variety of reasons. However I think my opponent and I can agree that 92% of the United States is not the middle class. Therefore for the purposes of this debate I define the middle class to be households earning between 80,000 and 40,000 dollars. . http://www.census.gov... The reasons for these figures are shown in the spreadsheet done by the U. S. Census. I define the middle class to be the middle 33% Americans. I have adjusted these figures for inflation. Redistribution - To take money from an original source and distribute the money to a source that did not previously have said money Income redistribution refers to a political policy intended to even the amount of income individuals are permitted to earn. [Main Points - and Further Explanation] In my resolution, I have two main points (As per my opponents request) for my opponent to refute. 1. "I resolve that the totality of John McCain's plan will not redistribute more wealth to the top 1-5% of America. " As provided by opponent, he has defined John McCain's Plan to consist of: "taxes, healthcare, and entitlements" A. --Taxes-- A middle-class family making $66,000 a year would see their taxes drop by $319 a year under McCain's proposal. . http://www.salon.com... Talking strictly taxes, individuals residing in the middle class would see a tax decrease. Unless my opponent can show otherwise, gaining money in no way is negative and furthermore is far from detrimental. B --Healthcare-- John McCain plans to give a 2500 tax credit for individuals, and a 5000 tax credit for households. This includes the middle class. When observing this plan, I note no negative effects on the middle class. In no way receiving 5000 or 2500 dollars that was previously not held before, is considered a negative effect on the middle class. Additionally this plan will negatively affect those who previously hold healthcare plans by disallowing employers to deduct the cost of their health care plans from their taxes. This will negatively affect people who receive their healthcare from their employer. The McCain campaign says only workers with "gold-plated" health programs would do worse. An independent analysis from the nonpartisan Urban Institute confirms that: "In general, lower-income people with health insurance would receive benefits from the credit that would be well in excess of the value that they receive from todayï¿½€™s tax exemption. The gains are much smaller for higher-income people. " . http://www.politifact.com... --Entitlements-- Social Security Invest a portion of the budget surplus into the Social Security trust fund. McCain "believes comprehensive structural reforms are needed, but that current beneficiaries and participants [should] receive the benefits they were promised. " Source: Project Vote Smart, 1998, www. vote-smart. org Jul 2, 1998 Option to invest 20% of payroll taxes in private accounts McCain will present today his first comprehensive plan for apportioning the spoils of the nation's current prosperity, calling for. a program to shore up Social Security through the establishment of individual retirement accounts. McCain also specifically allocates money to help Medicare, which like Social Security faces a financial shortfall as the population ages. He calls for workers to have the option of investing at least 20% of their Social Security payroll taxes in private accounts. Source: New York Times, p. A21 Jan 11, 2000 Look, what Americans need is some straight talk. Every man, woman and child in America needs to know it's going broke, and we've got to do the hard things. We've got to fix it for the future generations of Americans. Don't we owe that to young Americans today? I say we do. It's got to be bipartisan. And you have to go to the American people and say we won't raise your taxes. We need personal savings accounts, but we got to fix this system. Source: 2007 GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida Oct 21, 2007 So McCain supports fixing social security and then providing private investment opportunities. I fail to see where this produces a negative impact on the middle class. Medicare provides healthcare to people age 65 or older, I fail to see how this has an impact on the middle class. Medicare focuses on lower class americans and americans with disabilities, children, pregnant mothers, etc. Little of which fit into the middle class. So I fail to see where Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security are relevant in this debate. 2. "Additionally I resolve that the totality of John McCain's plan will not redistribute more wealth to the top 1-5% of America. " I would like to remind my opponent that no redistribution in income (especially from the Middle Class to the lower class) would occur. Since no taxes are to be increased on the middle class, it is impossible to conclude that redistribution of wealth will occur. Wealth cannot be redistributed (as my opponent wrongly inferred) from the middle class to the upper class unless taxes are steeply increased on the middle class and greatly reduced on the upper class (Which is certainly not the case). I would like to thank my opponent for his interesting parameters and would like to politely ask him to adhere to the resolution as is shown above. I look forward to my opponents primary refutation and would like to send him my respects.