Joseph Wurzelbacher

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (from Holland, Ohio) is an employee of Newell Plumbing & Heating, a plumbing firm. Wurzelbacher was mentioned by Republican United States Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama 23 times (usually as "Joe the Plumber") during the third and final presidential of 2008.

Encounter with Obama
A few days before the October 15, 2008 presidential debate, Obama was meeting residents in Wurzelbacher's neighborhood. Wurzelbacher said, "I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year. Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?" Wurzelbacher suggested that making more money should not result in paying a higher tax rate and asked Obama whether he would support a flat tax plan.

Obama responded with an explanation of how his tax plan would affect a small business in this bracket. He stated,

Press coverage

Asked by Katie Couric of CBS Evening News on October 15 whether Obama's proposed $250,000 tax threshold would affect him, Wurzelbacher replied: "Not right now at presently, but, you know, question, so he's going to do that now for people who make $250,000 a year. When's he going to decide that $100,000 is too much, you know? I mean, you're on a slippery slope here. You vote on somebody who decides that $250,000 and you're rich? And $1,000,000 and you're rich? I mean, where does it end?"

On October 16, Wurzelbacher appeared on Your World with Neil Cavuto on Fox News. Cavuto asked if Wurzelbacher was persuaded by Obama's plan. Wurzelbacher said that he was not and that he was more frightened upon hearing it. Wurzelbacher suggested that Obama's plan was socialist in nature. Sawyer asked Wurzelbacher if he had been contacted by the McCain campaign before his encounter with Obama. Wurzelbacher said "I have been contacted by them and asked to show up at a rally" He reportedly had been registered in 1992 under the name "Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher". In the most recent Republican primary, he told an Associated Press reporter he backed McCain.
He claimed he does not need a license because he works for someone else. Lucas County, where Wurzelbacher and his employer reside, requires plumbers who perform work including sanitary drainage, water supply, storm drainage, and natural gas piping, to have licenses. Neither Wurzelbacher nor his employer are licensed there, said Cheryl Schimming of Lucas County Building Regulations, which handles plumber licenses in parts of the county outside Toledo.

Wurzelbacher is one of two employees of a small plumbing firm, Newell Plumbing and Heating Co. of Toledo. however, according to Bloomberg News, the company's net profit in reality is between $150,000 and $200,000, and would not see a tax hike under the Obama plan. He reported that the idea of buying the company was discussed during his job interview six years prior. TBlicense/>

In his interview on ABC's Good Morning America on October 16, Wurzelbacher stated that his two current plumbing jobs were for a gas station and for a shopping center, Levis Commons. Both are commercial enterprises.

External Link
*Full, unedited video of the conversation between Joe the Plumber and Obama

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