[Alex]

I don't know what Biden said today but Obama has always been pretty clear:

If you make less than $250,000 you won't see any increase in tax burden. If you make less than $200,000 you will see at least some decrease in tax burden. Meaning that if you make between $200,000 and $250,000 your total taxes will remain unchanged (individual taxes may see tweaks).

For example, and again payroll tax adjustments in addition to income tax changes are a big part of his plan, if you make less than $150,000 you will receive a full $500 or $1000 (single vs. married) payroll tax credit. If you earn $150,000-$200,000 you will get some portion of that. If you earn more than $200,000 you will receive no payroll tax credit and income over $250,000 will be subject to new payroll taxes (note, this is ONLY the portion over $250,000, not the entire income if you make more than $250,000).

So there are all kinds of platform amounts in the proposal. Tax policy, surprisingly enough, is complex. Sound bites don't work well as representation of proposals and opportunities for misunderstanding (whether unintentional or intentional) are plentiful.

The Obama web site lays out his tax proposals in significant detail if you want to go look at them directly (as does McCain's).