Critics say McCain flip-flopped on taxes

WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain will be pushed to explain why he changed his mind about taxes, campaign analysts say.

Critics charge the presumptive GOP nominee has done an about-face since 2001 when he and Lincoln Chafee were the only GOP senators to vote against the the tax cuts of President Bush, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The newspaper says the economic package McCain has laid out includes many policies he previously criticized, such as extending the Bush tax cuts and offering investment tax breaks.

"He's promising . . . tax cuts that he once voted against because he said they offended his conscience," Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said this week.

"Well, they may have stopped offending John McCain's conscience somewhere along the road to the White House, but George Bush's economic policies still offend ours."

J.D. Foster, a tax expert at the Heritage Foundation said "it's logical" Mcain wouldn't be repeating the arguments he once made.

Senior campaign policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin attributes the change to the fact that the senator is "looking forward, not back."

Holtz-Eakin said McCain, throughout his political career, has supported lower taxes and a smaller federal government.

"Philosophically, John McCain believes Americans pay too much in taxes, not too little," said Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain strategist.