Both John McCain and Barack Obama are pledging to cut taxes for US consumers should they be elected as the country's next president.

According to USA Today, the democratic candidate wants to reduce taxes for low and middle income families while increasing corporate tax rates and scaling back tax cuts for wealthy citizens.

Meanwhile, the republican candidate has promised to implement the tax policies announced by the Bush administration and double the personal exemption taxpayers are entitled to claim.

Both have said they would temporarily shelve taxes on unemployment benefits.

The announcements come as US consumer confidence is falling amid volatile stock markets and rising unemployment.

Consumer spending has also slumped as families save their hard-earned cash to pay off debt and cope with increased living expenses.

"Things are pretty awful in the economy and that should make itself felt through weaker consumer spending,'' Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, told Bloomberg.

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