Senator Barack Obama declared recently that he wants to “reform our tax code so that it rewards work and not just wealth.” We think that is a great goal if it means a simple tax system with low marginal tax rates. Unfortunately, a close inspection of Obama’s proposals reveals something disquieting: he would raise marginal tax rates for many middle-income taxpayers, a bad move for anyone seeking to promote economic growth (see chart above).

Read more here of the American Enterprise Institute article.

Note that for tax year 2006, the median Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for American taxpayers was $32,000. Since median income is the statistical definition of "middle-class," that group will experience a whopping increase in effective marginal tax rate from about 20% to 35% under the Obama tax plan (see chart above).