While watching last night's debate, I found myself getting stuck on one point and being frustrated that President Obama didn't make any points about it.
Here's the thing. Romney kept trying to counter the whole lowering taxes on the wealthy point by saying very clearly,
I am not going to have people at the high end pay less than they're paying now. The top 5 percent of taxpayers will continue to pay 60 percent of the income tax the nation collects. So that'll stay the same. Middle-income people are going to get a tax break.
To people who aren't listening closely, it sounds like Romney is saying that Rich people won't get the tax breaks he's giving to middle income people, but that just isn't right.
Last year, Mitt Romney's effective tax rate (including payroll taxes) was 14.1%. My effective tax rate for last year (including payroll taxes) was 25.8% (I make less than $100,000 per year). Give me a 20% discount? You reduce my tax rate to 20.6%. Give Mitt a 20% discount? He goes down to 11.3%. But hey, he's still paying the same proportionate share of the total tax pool as he was before. It's just that the pool shrank and so did his taxes.
My dream quote in the debate: "Governor Romney is telling you tonight that high income taxpayers will continue to pay 60%? He isn't saying he won't give them a tax cut. He's just saying it won't be the biggest tax cut. If he wasn't already paying his fair share before, how does giving him a tax cut solve the problem?"