From Factcheck.org:
McCain: The "Welfare" Man Cometh
Since our last roundup of whoppers, Joe the Plumber has joined the cast, and Barack Obama's "spread the wealth" comment to him has been made infamous by John McCain. In fact, in Obama's exchange with Joe, he was simply talking about making the nation's progressive tax system a bit more progressive by cutting taxes for most while raising them on top earners. McCain himself has defended progressive taxation in the past.
Also, McCain began denigrating Obama's proposed refundable tax credits as "welfare." But refundable tax credits are a key feature of McCain's own health care plan, except that he calls them "reform." In an early version of Obama's plan, only a tiny portion of his tax credits would have gone to anyone who didn't work, and advisers quickly announced that they had added a work requirement even for that one (a tax credit to benefit homeowners who don't itemize deductions).
Two outside groups joined McCain in the tax attack. But one of them, Let Freedom Ring, pulled its ad off the air rather than defend its false assertion that Obama had voted to raise taxes on "100% of America." An ad by another independent group, RightChange.com, says that Obama's plan would hike taxes on "many small businesses" to 62 percent. That's a ridiculously inflated figure that includes the state tax rate paid by people making more than $1 million annually in California.
Meanwhile, McCain has continued to broadcast, in speeches and ads, his most harped-upon deception of the campaign, telling voters that Obama favored higher taxes on "families making over $42,000 a year." As we've said ad nauseam, Obama's plan would raise taxes only on individuals making more than $200,000 a year, or couples or families making more than $250,000.