Cross-posted at Tall Tales
House Republican Leader John Boehner is excited.
The memo he circulated to his Republican colleagues over the weekend -- entitled Turning the Tide in the Economic Debate -- opens with this enthusiastic call to arms:
With barely 10 days remaining in the campaign, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama have presented us with an opportunity to fundamentally change the economic debate in America and to define a clear choice for the election. We must capitalize!
Today, Boehner explained exactly how the Republicans would accomplish this goal with a three-point plan. Two of the three points will sound very familiar:
[R]educing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and temporarily suspending the capital gains tax.
Ironically, the third point in the Boehner plan -- doubling the child tax credit -- is exactly the kind of redistributive policy McCain has been ripping Obama for:
[T]he government will write them all checks called a tax credit. And the Treasury will cover those checks by taxing other people. In other words, Barack Obama's tax plan would convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency
Of course, under the Boehner plan, the credits will be paid for by running up the national debt, so it's our grandchildren who will cover the checks and guarantee the McCain-dubbed IRS welfare system.
But I digress.
The child tax credit is just election-year gravy from the Republicans to help grease the skids for their big goals: an elimination of capital gains taxes for Wall Street and lower corporate taxes for big business.
So what if similar trickle-down policies under Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover led the country into the Great Depression.
And so what if similar trickle-down policies under George W. Bush led us into the current economic crisis.
"More please" is the new House Republican plan.
And to hear Boehner tell it, this corporate friendly plan puts the Republican Party firmly in the corner of average folks:
[O]n the critical issue of the economy, a majority of the American people and the Republican Party are on the same page.
Boehner even has a Fox Poll to support his position.
Unfortunately for Boehner, the poll actually gives the Democratic presidential candidate a 12-point advantage on handling the overall economy and an 12-point advantage on tax policy. The poll does contain a "spread the wealth" question that elicits a negative response, but its hopelessly slanted, indicating that Obama wants government to take "some of the money it collects from you in taxes to spread the wealth to others who are less well off." Fox does not bother to ask the question accurately -- "some of the money it collects from people making over $250,000 to spread the wealth to others who are less well off."
When pollsters do ask the tax policy question with respect to different income groups, it's clear most Americans stand with the Democrats:
As I read off some different groups, please tell me if you think they are paying their FAIR share in federal taxes, paying too MUCH or paying too LITTLE?
A. Lower-income people
Fair Share 32%
Too Much 52%
Too Little 13%
B. Middle-income people
Fair Share 50%
Too Much 43%
Too Little 4%
C. Upper-income people
Fair Share 24%
Too Much 9%
Too Little 63%
D. Corporations
Fair Share 15%
Too Much 6%
Too Little 73%
Again, Boehner:
[A] majority of the American people and the Republican Party are on the same page.
Yeah, Right
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For a comprehensive account of Republican denial and double-talk about the trickle-down economy in recent years, see Yeah, Right: "This Economy Is Strong" and Other Tall Tales