Mitt Romney's tax plan would slash taxes for the wealthy while increasing taxes on some low income workers according to a new analysis published by the Tax Policy Center. Romney's tax plan gives Democrats a golden opportunity to show Romney plans a resumption of Bush's economic and tax policies. He's given Democrats a gift and we should use it to maximum effect.
This was Romney from last night's debate:
ABC Transcripts.
ROMNEY: But I look long term to do just what Jon indicated, which is to take Bowles-Simpson and to reduce the rates in our tax code, to reduce the number of exemptions and -- and limit the amount of exceptions that can occur. At the same time, I don’t want to raise capital gains tax rates, as they do in Bowles-- Simpson. But simplifying the code, broadening the base is the right way to go for our tax code long term. And immediately, let’s get some relief for middle-income Americans.
Mitt makes sure to repeat his big lie about who gets most of his tax cuts. Tell a lie often enough... Romney's big lie is the same big lie that Reagan and Bush used saying that their tax cuts were going to the middle class, when in fact the lion's share went to those at the top.
Romney sidesteps this question completely without a peep from a passive Stephanopoulos:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Romney, why not close all the loopholes, as Governor Huntsman is saying?
ROMNEY: George, let me step back from that. I know you want to ask that question. Nothing wrong with it. And I don’t want to be critical of the questions that -- that you ask and the other interviewers ask.
But -- but I think the -- the real issue is the vision for this country. And I -- Blah blah blah blah....
Obviously Romney was coached to avoid his tax proposals, and shift to his grand vision for America BS. Romney's tax proposals are so toxic that he needs to avoid them whenever they come up. That should tell us a lot.
Analysis: Romney tax plan would most benefit wealthy
By Lesley Clark
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's tax plan would cut taxes for fewer than half of American households, with the wealthy getting most of the benefits, according to an independent analysis released Thursday.
Some taxpayers at the lower end of the scale — those who make less than $40,000 a year — could face a tax increase under Romney's plan.
Under the presumption that the Bush-era tax reductions are extended — as Romney has proposed — nearly all Americans who make more than $1 million would get tax cuts that average $150,000, the review by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found.
From CNN:
Mitt Romney's 'timid' tax plan
The rich would see the most benefit, with individuals in the top 1% receiving a tax cut of more than $80,000, while the average person would get a little more than $1,000 break.
From the Economist?!
Very progressive, by 15th-century standards
THE Tax Policy Center has completed an analysis of the distributional effects of Mitt Romney's tax plan , and as might be expected it's quite good for you if you're raking in the big bucks, and not particularly helpful if you're not. For the bottom 80% of the income distribution, federal tax rates would drop between 0.6% and 3.4%. For the top 20%, they'd drop 5.9%; for the top 1%, they'd drop 8.6%.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Tax Policy Center: Romney Plan Gives Wealthy Big Tax Cuts
By John D. McKinnon
The new analysis by the center, a joint venture of the liberal Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, contrasts with Mr. Romney’s often-repeated claim that he wants to focus new tax breaks on middle-class taxpayers, not the well-to-do.
“I’d like to get some relief for middle-income taxpayers,” Mr. Romney said at an event in Salem, N.H. “I’m not looking for ways to reduce taxes on the highest-income folks in our society.”
This comes from the Tax Policy Center's rerport:
Mitt Romney's Tax Plan Baseline: Current Policy Distribution of Federal Tax Change by Cash Income Level, 2015
Romney’s Tax Plan: Big Benefits for the Wealthy and Higher Deficits
by Howard Gleckman
But much of the largess goes to those with the highest-incomes. Households making more than $1 million would get an average tax cut of almost $300,000, largely because, as owners of capital, they’d receive the bulk of the benefit of Romney’s very generous corporate tax reductions. While those making $1 million-plus pay about 20 percent of all federal taxes, they’d receive more than 28 percent of Romney’s tax cuts.
The story is a bit different if you start by assuming the Bush/Obama tax cuts are made permanent. Compared to that already-generous law, the average tax cut for all households shrinks from $3,500 to about $1,000 and a sizable number of low-income families would see their taxes go up.
...a Romney Administration’s revenue agenda would look a lot like President George W. Bush’s, just more so.
Romney's tax plan gives Democrats the opening to to paint Romney as running to to implement more of Bush's policies and make his term into Bush's third term.
Romney wants to give Americans another heaping helping of George W. Bush's preferential tax cuts for the rich. Like Bush's policies Romney's tax proposal would also dramatically increase the deficit by $600 Billion a year, and increase pressure for more drastic cuts to government programs.
Democrats need to go on the offensive and define Romney as another Bush style Spokes-Model for the Wealthy. Another rich guy who doesn't understand the harsh daily realities for most Americans.