You've heard him say it, I've heard him say it, it's impossible to miss, "I will not raise taxes on people making less than $200,000 a year". Kerry says this at almost every oppurtunity as the cornerstone of paying for his many proposed programs. Either you believe this is an attempt at class warfare or a fair system for financing government, which is fine. But whats the truth?

First, you can confirm Kerry's answer at issues2000.org.
"Q: Would you be willing to look directly into the camera and, using simple and unequivocal language, give the American people your solemn pledge not to sign any legislation that will increase the tax burden on families earning less than $200,000 a year during your first term? KERRY: Absolutely. Yes. Right into the camera. Yes. I am not going to raise taxes. Now, I'm going to restore what we did in the 1990s, ladies and gentlemen: pay as you go. We're going to do it like you do it. The president broke the pay-as-you-go rule. I'm pledging I will not raise taxes; I'm giving a tax cut to the people earning less than $200,000 a year. Now, for the people earning more than $200,000 a year, you're going to see a rollback to the level we were at with Bill Clinton, when people made a lot of money. And looking around here, at this group here, I suspect there are only three people here who are going to be affected: the president, me, and, Charlie [Gibson, the moderator], I'm sorry, you too. Source: Second Bush-Kerry debate, St. Louis, MO Oct 8, 2004 "

Interesting. Take a look at what Kerry (and his website) actually said, "...you're going to see a rollback to the level we were at with Bill Clinton...". The rollback he refers to is outlined in detail at johnkerry.com as restoring the top two tax brackets back to the levels they were under President Bill Clinton. What does this actually mean? Obviously that those two brackets start at $200,000 income, right? RIGHT?

Actually, no, thats not right.
Under the Kerry plan, the tax rollbacks (re: tax increases) start at $89,000 income. The second bracket starts at $146,000. This raises taxes on a much greater portion of the citizenry than just the claimed 1%, and shows Kerry to not exactly be telling the truth.

I'm not going to analyze this, or tell you what to think about it. You, the tax payer, need to be informed. This is just a small, but important part of the picture. You can decide how this will effect small business owners, how this will effect large families with a mother and father earning more than $89k a year, and what this type of misleading presentation of something as basic as taxes means to you, personally.