To coincide with John McCain's speech on the economy today, campaign aides Steve Schmidt and Doug Holtz-Eakin, chief economic adviser, held a conference call with reporters to promote the senator's proposals.

"There is no reason why anyone would want to raise taxes," said Holtz-Eakin. "That is the mistake the Democrats are making." Instead, he said, McCain's plan would focus on the tax code and offset any revenue loss with cuts in spending.

For instance, McCain proposes to eliminate the alternative-minimum tax, which Holtz-Eakin estimated would cost the federal government about $60 billion in lost revenue. To offset that, McCain has identified $60 billion in cuts in the federal budget.

But Holtz-Eakin was careful to point out that McCain's proposal would not bring in more money to the federal government. "I wouldn't say [McCain's program is] revenue neutral, I would say it's budget neutral," he said.

Other proposals McCain laid out today include raising the tax exemption for each dependent child; offer tax-payers the choice of choosing a simpler tax system; require wealthier Medicare enrollees to pay a higher premium on prescription drug coverage; and suspend for one year all discretionary spending for non-military agencies.

Schmidt began the conference call by again criticizing Barack Obama for comments he made during a fundraiser in San Francisco. Calling those comments "elitist" and "condescending," Schmidt said they "opened up a window into how Obama feels about this country."

UPDATE: Here's some video from McCain's speech: