VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed on Tuesday that the government eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits, one plank in a $52.5 billion economic plan as the nation struggles under a financial crisis.

More than 3.6 million Americans received unemployment benefits, according to the McCain campaign. If the government eliminated taxes on unemployment benefits, recipients would see an increase on average of nearly 10 percent, the campaign said.

In a statement released ahead of McCain's speech scheduled Tuesday morning near Philadelphia, the campaign said he was also proposing lowering the tax rate on Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k) plans to the lowest rate, 10 percent, on the first $50,000 withdrawn. The campaign estimated it would affect 9 million people over the age of 60.

McCain's plan included reducing the tax rate on capital gains to 7.5 percent for two years.

Speaking in Virginia on Monday, a reliably Republican state turned battleground this time, McCain criticized President George W. Bush while pledging to enact new policies that would reverse the effects of the GOP president's two terms in office.

"We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change," McCain said while campaigning with running mate Sarah Palin. "The hour is late; our troubles are getting worse; our enemies watch. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now."

McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, is calling for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a two-year tax break for businesses that create jobs as part of a plan to heal the nation's ailing economy.

In Toledo, Ohio, on Monday, he said banks that participate in the federal bailout should temporarily postpone foreclosures for families making good-faith efforts to pay their mortgage.

He also called for a $3,000 tax credit for each additional full-time job a business creates. The tax break would end after 2010.

Obama also is proposing letting people withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty this year and next.

The Obama campaign said that these ideas can be done quickly, either through executive order or legislation.