Former Sen. Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, after a closed session with the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. Daschle withdrew his nomination on Tuesday. (AP)

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It was breakpoint time in Washington yesterday.

Former senator Tom Daschle, nominated to be secretary of health and human services, bowing out under fire over unpaid taxes and a pile of money from the lobbying world.

Nancy Killefer, in line to be chief White House performance officer, bowing out over nanny tax issues.

President Obama, contrite, saying “I screwed up.”

So, does anybody in big-money Washington play it straight? Can Obama play it straight, on ethics, and win?

This hour, On Point: Taxes, lobbying, money, and the Washington elite.

You can join the conversation. How do you read the headlines out of Washington on ethics, taxes, big money? Can Obama set it right? Will he?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

From Rochester, N.Y., we’re joined by David Cay Johnston, a former reporter for The New York Times, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on tax policy. He’s author of the books “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)” and “Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich and Cheat Everybody Else.”

And joining us from Washington is Robert Kaiser, an associate editor of The Washington Post and author of the new book “So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government.” You can read an excerpt here. His article in the Post’s Outlook section last Sunday, “Stuck in the Revolving Door,” looked at how hard it will be for Obama to change Washington’s political culture.

Supporters of Sen. John McCain, dressed as Joe the Plumber, near a rally for Sen. Barack Obama in Roanoke, Va.., Oct. 17, 2008. (AP)

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First it was the economy, meltdown, and bail-out, and now the hot talk on the campaign trail is all about how to survive the meltdown and pay for a comeback. About taxes and spending.

Suddenly, Joe the Plumber is a star and McCain is calling Obama’s plans “socialist.” That after a Republican White House nationalized American banks.

One thing is true: Barack Obama and John McCain have very different plans on tax policy. And neither, say the experts, would really balance the budget.

Today, we’ll make their plans as clear as we can, so you understand what they could mean for your bottom line. And also for America’s soaring federal deficit.

This hour, On Point: Big issue — taxes, spending and your money under McCain or Obama.

You can join the conversation. Who’s singing your song on taxes and spending? McCain or Obama? Who’s got the edge, the answer, for our challenges now? Tell us what you think.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from Washington is William Gale. He is vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, which has analyzed both candidates’ tax plans.

Also from Washington, we’re joined by Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan research group that has looked at the budget implications of the candidates’ plans.

More links:

The Washington Post has published a chart comparing the candidates’ tax plans.

And you can read the candidates’ tax policies at the official Obama and McCain campaign websites.

Here’s a little something to chew on while you get your income tax files together this season. Median income in the USA is $48,000. Average annual income of the top four hundred taxpayers? Two hundred and fourteen million dollars. Yep. Two hundred and fourteen million.

Their share of the nation’s income has doubled since 1995. And the tax bill of our happy gazillionaires? Well, it’s fallen by almost half in that same period, from 30 to 18 percent.

Compare that against yours, and the national deficit.

This hour, On Point: billionaires around the world, and who makes what — and pays what — at home.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Robert Frank, wealth reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of “Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich.”

Michael J. Graetz, professor of law at Yale Law School, former Treasury Department official and author of “100 Million Unnecessary Returns: A Simple, Fair, and Competitive Tax Plan for the United States.”

Matthew Miller, associate editor of Forbes magazine and editor of the Forbes World’s Billionaires list and the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list.

Death and taxes are the two sure things, they say. In the last week, the storm’s been brewing on the tax front. Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan re-emerged to say he never meant to sanction all of George W. Bush’s big tax cuts and the GOP-led spending that rolled right on.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Congress the federal debt ceiling needs bumping over $9 trillion dollars. New health care plans are pointing to higher taxes for the high income. War costs are nearing $3 billion dollars a week.

This hour, On Point: crunch time and the unspeakable, your taxes, and the next president.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

William Gale, vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, and author of the forthcoming “Taxing the Future: Fiscal Policy in the Bush Administration.”

Andrew Samwick, former chief economist on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2004, and currently a professor of economics at Dartmouth College.

John Harwood, chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal.