Obama is NOT going to raise your taxes. He wants to lower them.

I am sick and tired of hearing people say "I'm not going to vote for Barack Obama because he is going to raise taxes," especially when they sound like GOP sound bites. You don't like Obama, fine. But if you want the real dirt on Obama's tax plans, read Obama's tax plan -- and stop listening to the fear- and tax-mongers.

Don't have the time or desire to go through the six-page tax plan right now? Fine. Here are some of the highlights, taken from http://origin.barackobama.com/taxes/:

* Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase. The typical middle class family will receive well over $1,000 in tax relief under the Obama plan, and will pay tax rates that are 20% lower than they faced under President Reagan. According to the Tax Policy Center, the Obama plan provides three times as much tax relief for middle class families as the McCain plan.

* Families making more than $250,000 will pay either the same or lower tax rates than they paid in the 1990s. Obama will ask the wealthiest 2% of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility. But no family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s. In fact, dividend rates would be 39 percent lower than what President Bush proposed in his 2001 tax cut.

* 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.

Want to know how Obama's tax plan stacks up to/with McCain's? Here you go.

While the bit about asking the wealthiest 2% of Americans to give back a portion of their tax cuts is probably a pipe dream and unrealistic -- and has caused some of those folks to support McCain as a knee-jerk reaction -- the bottom line is that a vote for Obama is NOT is not going to mean, should he be elected, that the richest of us are suddenly going to find ourselves paying 40% or 50% of our incomes in taxes.

Rather (well, should Obama get elected and his tax measures be passed by Congress), the vast majority of Americans will get a tax break or see no change in their taxes, which, considering the tab the U.S. government has been running up the past eight years in Iraq and Afghanistan and here at home with all these bailouts is pretty incredible.

Here's the real bottom line, folks, when it comes to tax policy: No matter who gets elected, there is no way that Congress, even if the Democrats get a larger majority, is going to sign off on an enormous tax increase for individuals and/or families (or even businesses), despite how much the government needs our money.

A slight tax increase may be inevitable (even George H.W. "no new taxes" Bush had to raise taxes as part of a 1990 budget agreement) -- to cover all this excess spending. But to believe all the tax smack talk being put out there by some commentators, supposed journalists, and opinionators and bloggers is wrong.

Before you vote, for anyone, study the issues and get the facts -- and stop listening to those 30-second sound bites.