I think you excluded this since it would skew the numbers much more in McCain's favor. I would have to agree. Think about it you are taxed based on your real earnings minus your deductions. Once you subtract what you have already paid in payroll taxes you come up with what you owe the government. If I'm correct payroll taxes account for about 21% in MD. So a person making 3,000,000 would pay about $630,000 in payroll taxes. So Obama taxes them $700,000-$630,000 means their tax liability is $70,000. Same person under McCain pays payroll up to $102,000. Which means they have $2.5 - 2.8 million to be taxed after generous deductions. Even at the current rate of 33% that means their tax liability is $804,000-903,000 after an additional $21,000 payroll deduction. Those numbers beat Obama's hands down. As with SS, if you put the most in you get the most out. So it's not going to solve anything in the long term. It's a short term gimmick.