A few days before the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney officially unveiled his tax plan, which was immediately labeled "Bush Tax Cuts on steroids." In an unexpected twist, Romney, by scrapping existing tax breaks for working families, actually proposed raising taxes on the bottom 20%, while offering the wealthy another windfall.
The left was disgusted, but the right wasn't impressed either, dismissing Romney's tax agenda as too "timid." So, calling a mulligan, the Romney campaign presented a brand new tax plan today.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, seeking to kick-start his presidential campaign among recalcitrant conservatives, will propose cutting the top income tax for individuals to 28%, advisers said today.
Mr. Romney's earlier economic plan called only for preserving the current top tax rate of 35%, while holding out the promise of lower rates later in an overhaul of the tax code. But facing a major challenge from upstart Republican rival Rick Santorum, he has chosen to outline such an overhaul today in Arizona ahead of critical Feb. 28 primaries there and in Michigan -- and before a televised debate tonight in Mesa.
The Romney plan, the outline of which is online, would cut 20% from every tax bracket. The campaign insists the plan would be "revenue neutral" -- that is, it wouldn't add to the deficit -- but Romney aides have offered literally no details to explain how their massive, across-the-board tax cuts would be paid for, or why the wealthiest Americans need yet another expensive, permanent tax break.
What's more, there's ample reason to believe Romney's claims about revenue neutrality are simply untrue. A preliminary analysis from the Center for American Progress Tax and Budget Policy Director Michael Linden found the new plan "clocking in at a cost of more than $10.7 trillion over the next decade and reducing revenue to a paltry 15 percent of GDP."
There will be plenty of additional analysis and scrutiny of the plan in the coming days, but in the meantime, it's also worth noting a rhetorical shift in today's announcement. As David Kurtz explained, Romney, as recently as a few weeks ago, insisted that any references to the "99%" or the "1%" were necessarily evidence of class warfare. To even consider identifying the two classes, Romney said, was divisive, if not un-American. And yet, today, it was none other than Mitt Romney talking about about making "sure the top 1% keeps paying, paying the current share they're paying or more."
When the Occupy movement is changing the way Mitt Romney talks about taxes, it's having quite an effect.
Leave a Comment:
So now he wants the wealthy to get a free ride? I guess all that campaign money had strings attached.Shocking---not.
My head is hurting sooooo bad....starting my weekend now....happy hour here I come!!!
Vamp - You got a nice job, dude, if your weekend starts at 4pm on Wednesday! I'm envious!
Must be a congressman in disquise. No,they start drinking around noon.
This guy never stops changing his stripes, does he?
Am I surprised? No! And he wonders why he keeps losing steam… Mitt, you are just a big phony, whose picture should be in the dictionary under "politician".
It does speak to the power of the OWS movement, good job. Spring is coming.
Sorta like that crazy strip pearls before swine and the baby Zebra huh? Plaid(but definately not Tartan!...my name is campbell after all)
Mitt Romney is not a normal American. He is an out of touch multi-millionaire that has never had to experience the true struggles of daily American life in his entire privileged existence. Mitt may try to cover his platinum soul, but his taxes and his record at Bain offer great insight into his character and background. Mitt Romney has probably led to more layoffs of working Americans than any man in this country. His entire tax policy platform is designed to give rich guys like himself as many tax cuts and government giveaways as possible. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
You could have stopped at his not being a normal American.
He will never detail what programs he wants to cut other than saying government waste and unnecessary programs. It is up to the media to keep his feet to the fire and make him give specifics. The media should do this sooner rather than later and stop tossing him fluff questions. When he tells people that he wants to eliminate or significantly cut Medicare we will see how far that takes him with the voters. Maybe the Tea Party will finally wake up.
Sorry, Mitt, but the tax issue isn't about making "sure the top 1% keeps paying, paying the current share they're paying or more." The issue is that the 1% doesn't pay enough of a share of its income in taxes. Just look at you: You pay but 14% of your income to sustain the country you claim to love so much.
In addition to boosting the deficit - which you say needs to be reduced - to monumental levels, your plan is feasible only by eliminating Medicare and Medicaid, cutting funding to education, to food stamps, to infrastructure renewal, basic research, and practically everything else that the public (Republicans and Democrats alike) rely on to ensure that the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink is safe.
How much swill do you expect people to snort out of your trough?
Return of the Tax Fairy
Once again the GOP will raise revenue by lowering taxes. That is what Bush said also when he lowered them.
We need to hire those people who do the "Poop Fairy" adds. "There is no Tax Fairy"
By the way I see private jets versus the public bus as a sign of class warfare. I see millionaires buying candidates and using super pacs versus joe blow scrimping to send in a twenty dollar donation as class warfare. But then I was raised by hillbillies who were obviously taught strange stuff like do unto others and paying taxes was doing ones part.
If you can't run a successful business without enough revenue, then how do you expect to run a successful country without enough revenue?
The GOP is not worried about a successful country.
Look at the GOP Incorporation papers again.
Let's not forget that Republicans don't actually reduce the deficit when they get into office. How do we call them on this?
I could not believe the responses to Obama's payroll tax cut. All the whining about how cutting taxes - the 2% change to SS funding - would be such a hardship! Geeze, less revenue... adding to the deficit... such a bad thing! But the Republican tax cuts don't do that, I guess, by some miracle.
Romney is a complete turkey.
I don't see why a man so wealthy kowtows to those even wealthier?
I guess the way religion always teaches obedience first prevents him from thinking even the least bit for himself.
As Mitt and his billionaires keep tossing crumbs to his middle class, we, the 99%, will keep exposing them as crumbs! Mitt does not care about the poor.
Mitt's reassurance to the middle class that it will continue to enjoy tax loop holes like mortgage interest is a specious offer. Where is the middle class? Homeless, or helping homeless family members. Bankrupt, due to high medical costs. A patchwork nation forced into low-wage jobs without tax deductions to declare.
It is the power of OWS that forced his use of the term, "one percent" and it will be continued movement work that will re-elect President Obama and change the balance of power in Congress.
Remember, $10,000 is cookie money to his ilk.
Trees I love trees,they're so green and they have brown bark,and limbs,dont forget the limbs they stick out of the trees that are just the right size.And lakes I love lakes they're so blue,but some are brown and dirty.But I love the brown dirty ones to,I like the way they're all over the state in different spots.And cars,I love cars they have wheels and everything,and you can drive them and stuff.When I was a child someone could show me a spark plug and I could tell them what kind of car,model and color of the vehicle it came out of. I am a pretty smart guy and Iwould like your vote.
I feel like the republicans are "punking" us. Or are we on Candid Camera?