(WKTV) - In our final piece of the series called "Where They Stand", we focus on the economy, the issue that has taken over as the number one issue for voters in this year's election.

We sat in on a rather lively discussion amongst some political science students at Utica College.

One in favor of republican John McCain, one in favor of democrat Barack Obama and one who supports independent candidate Ralph Nader.

U.C. sophomore Shawn Kaleta supports Nader, "I look at Barack Obama and John McCain, and they both say that they represent change, but what changed? It's the same Democratic and Republican philosophies of the past."

As far as the two major party candidates, the big difference between them is taxes.

First off, U.C. senior Mike Atwood says democrat Barack Obama "believes on cutting taxes for the lower 95% of Americans which is a very substantial percentage of Americans, and he believes that the super rich and the corporations that have long pilfered the coffers of the American populous, it may be their time to finally pay up."

Junior Chris Strain supports John McCain and his plan to cut taxes for big companies to promote growth. Strain says "lower taxes are very important, not for just the middle class, not just for the low, but for the people that are being taxed the most, the people that create jobs, they have to have money to spend to create jobs."

Barack Obama says he would up the tax on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year, and couples who make more than $250,000 a year. He would give a tax cut to those that make less than $200,000.

Republicans say among Obama's much talked about "95 percent" of Americans who would see a tax cut, many of those are not paying taxes in the first place because of their low income.

Strain says "thirty percent of Americans don't pay income taxes to begin with, so to cut taxes on people who don't pay taxes to begin with, he's either not going to be able to do it, or he's going to be handing out money."

McCain says he would make the Bush tax cuts which are supposed to expire in 2011, permanent. Those include many tax breaks for big business. McCain has campaigned hard to eliminate porkbarrel spending, which is government money used to benefit constituents of a particular politician.

McCain's plan includes having a one year freeze on non essential government spending.