Forgive me if anyone else has already mentioned this, but did anyone else notice that Romney repeatedly based his claim of not cutting taxes for the wealthy on a mathematical bait and switch?
Throughout the debate, when the subject came up, he'd say he wasn't going to lower taxes for the wealthy because 'the top 5% will still pay 60% of Federal taxes.' While a decent-sounding Zinger, it's complete junk.
Say the government collects $100 in taxes and the wealthy pay for $60 of it. If you cut taxes across the board by 20% so that the government collects only $80 and the wealthy only pay $48 guess what? You've given a massive tax cut to the wealthy and yet they are STILL PAYING 60% OF FEDERAL TAXES.
He never said that the AMOUNT of taxes paid by the top 5% would remain the same, only that the PERCENT of taxes would remain at 60%.
I know, I know. Math hurts.
I just couldn't stop my jaw from hitting the floor when he made this ridiculous promise, not once, but repeatedly. He reminded me of a snake oil salesman promising that his fancy new elixir will--when mixed with ordinary water--quench the deepest thirst.
Heck, if Romney's being that generous, why not cut everyone's taxes to zero? He can still make his bogus claim.
60% of nothing is still nothing.