There is a new study out today by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in combination with the Brookings Institution that shows that Romney's tax plan will cut taxes for the richest 5% but increase taxes for the rest of the 95%. In other words a reverse Robin Hood plan.
I fully expect Obama to HAMMER on this from today until election day. The Obama camp is already tweeting about this new study results.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
This new independent study out today bent over backwards to try to give Romney the benefit of the doubt on his tax plan.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Brookings Institution and the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who seem to bend over backward to be fair to the Republican presidential candidate. To cover the cost of his plan — which would reduce tax rates by 20 percent, repeal the estate tax and eliminate taxes on investment income for middle-class taxpayers — the researchers assume that Romney would go after breaks for the richest taxpayers first.
They even did "double back flips" to accommodate Romney.
They even look at what would happen if Republicans’ dreams for tax reform came true and the proposal generated significant revenue through economic growth.
They determined that to avoid increasing the deficit, Romney's tax plan increases taxes on the middle class and poor.
None of it helped Romney. His rate-cutting plan for individuals would reduce tax collections by about $360 billion in 2015, the study says. To avoid increasing deficits — as Romney has pledged — the plan would have to generate an equivalent amount of revenue by slashing tax breaks for mortgage interest, employer-provided health care, education, medical expenses, state and local taxes, and child care — all breaks that benefit the middle class.
In all Romney's tax plan ends up being a reverse Robin Hood plan that cuts taxes for the top 5% of income earners and increases taxes on everybody else.
“It is not mathematically possible to design a revenue-neutral plan that preserves current incentives for savings and investment and that does not result in a net tax cut for high-income taxpayers and a net tax increase for lower- and/or middle-income taxpayers,” the study concludes.
The bottom line for Romney's tax plan: the rich gets a wet kiss, the middle class gets a slap in the face, and the poor gets a kick in the gut.
What would that mean for the average tax bill? Millionaires would get an $87,000 tax cut, the study says. But for 95 percent of the population, taxes would go up by about 1.2 percent, an average of $500 a year.