Joe The Plumber

Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, is a 34-year-old single father who works as a plumber for is one of two employees of a small plumbing firm, Newell Plumbing and Heating Co. During his job interview Wurzelbacher came up with the idea of buying the company. He achieved fame for being mentioned in the third presidential debate of the 2008 US presidential election. Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obamamiddle class; the nickname was first used during the third and final presidential debate to illustrate the effects of tax policy on the middle class.

On October 11, 2008, four days before the final presidential debate, Obama met residents in Wurzelbacher's neighborhood.^[5] Wurzelbacher, who had been playing football with his son in his front yard at the time, asked Obama about his tax plan.^[6] As an ABC News camera recorded the conversation, Wurzelbacher suggested that Obama's tax plan would be at odds with "the American dream."^[7] Wurzelbacher stated, "I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes 250, 270, 280 thousand dollars a year. Your new tax plan's going to tax me more, isn't it?"^[8]

According to MSNBC, "While Wurzelbacher told Obama that he would be taxed at a higher rate because the company grossed more than $250,000 a year, Ohio business records show the company’s estimated total annual revenue as only $100,000. Actual taxable income would be even less than that." ^[25]Court record report that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.^[18]