GOP tax plan would have minimal reduction on federal tax rates, analysis says
Source: Washington Post
Wiping out itemized deductions and raising taxes on investment income would generate only enough cash to pay for a minuscule reduction in federal tax rates, according to an official analysis, raising new questions about the workability of Republican-style tax reform.
In a report released Friday, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for tax policy, concluded that such changes would pay for a 4 percent reduction in tax rates next year — far short of the 20 percent reduction sought by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Even with the total elimination of some of the biggest breaks in the tax code — including popular deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes — the JCT found that the top rate could be pushed down from the scheduled 39.6 percent next year only to 38 percent, while the rate for the lowest tax bracket would fall from 15 percent to 14.4 percent.
Democrats immediately seized on the report as further evidence that the tax plans advocated by Romney and other Republicans cannot significantly reduce rates without increasing budget deficits.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gop-tax-plan-would-have-minimal-reduction-on-federal-tax-rates-analysis-says/2012/10/12/75ef8c9c-14ab-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html
While the pundits try to ignore the substance, we have to push the fact that Democrats are right on the facts and the substance. The pundits celebrate Romney's lies as "good politics" and "moving to the center." We need to push back hard and say that these evasions are dishonest and will blow up the deficit and put needed benefits at risk.
Democrats needs to hammer the fact that when Romney cuts taxes by 20 percent across the board, he will either have to raise taxes on the middle class by gutting deductions that help them like the health insurance benefit exemption, cutting benefits like Medicare, or letting the deficit explode. We can't let this happen. Again.
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