The story

An end to earmarks, a gas-tax holiday, government-backed mortgages -- they're all part of an economic-revival plan that a top aide to GOP Sen. John McCain described Tuesday as "big and ambitious."

The presumed Republican nominee also wants to create an alternative system for paying income taxes and double the income tax exemption for dependents, McCain said during a Tuesday speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The senator from Arizona is proposing an income tax system that offers two basic rates and a "generous standard deduction," he said. McCain would let Americans choose between the new system and the present one. Read full article »

CNN's Ed Hornick and CNNMoney.com's Steve Hargreaves contributed to this report.

All About John McCain • Carnegie Mellon University