Joe the Plumber and His Impact on Other Plumbers

In the third and final Presidential debate a regular civilian got his fifteen minutes of fame thanks to Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain. Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Ohio, became the topic of discussion after John McCain used his as a topic during the debate to prove that he is a better candidate for President than Barack Obama. Within the first question of the debate McCain began attacking Obama’s economic plan, as an example McCain used Joe. Joe Wurzelbacher, as McCain said, planned to buy the plumbing business where he has worked at for the past years. After reviewing the economic plan of Barack Obama, he decided not to buy the business because he would have to pay more taxes.

As Barack Obama explained during the debate his economic plan includes providing a tax-cut for middle-class families that make less than $200,000 a year. According to John McCain this would result in Joe being put into a higher tax bracket and his taxes being raised. It was later revealed that Joe the plumber, is not actually a licensed plumber and he owes back taxes.

How did plumbers react to their profession being put into the spotlight? After speaking to a couple plumbers about how they feel about the tax cuts for those making less than $200,000 a year the results were that they wouldn’t mind the tax increase for those who make more than $200,000 a year because they do not make more than that. After speaking to Frank Taryla, a plumber in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, he explained that for all the work he does he makes only $90,000 a year. He stressed the fact that he works all the time and believes that, “if a plumber is making more that $200,000 he is overcharging people, especially without a license. He is ripping people off, so he deserves to pay more taxes.” He also believes that Joe the plumber opened his mouth and McCain jumped all over it as a way to appear better than Obama. “We also found out in the papers that he doesn’t own a license so he cannot even own a business. He doesn’t know what he is talking about.” Frank Taryla explained.

After speaking to Ken Taryla, a plumber in Fair Lawn, New Jersey about Barack Obama’s economic plan he explained that “it does not affect us, we are an S Corporation. This means that we file an income tax return but we don’t pay federal taxes, we pay state taxes.” His taxes keep rising, and therefore they would vote for Obama who would provide a tax cut to them. The economic plans would not affect him because he doesn’t have enough employees, it is only him. “Buying out another person’s business would cause a problem,” he explained.