Romney would want say in "fiscal cliff" talks: Report

WASHINGTON Mitt Romney's transition team is quietly talking with government officials and Capitol Hill to develop a plan, if he's elected, to prevent massive cuts to the defense budget and extend tax cuts first passed under President George W. Bush.

The Republican's goal is to put his own stamp on legislation to fix the so-called fiscal cliff well before his Jan. 20 inauguration. The tax cuts are set to expire Jan. 1, and economists in both political parties warn the reductions in spending combined with higher taxes would likely throw the country back into recession.

The economic policy planning is a major element of what's dubbed "The Readiness Project" inside the campaign.

Led by former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, Romney's transition team has been at work since summer preparing to choose Cabinet officials and build the new government if he's elected. The team has held events to raise private money, hired more staff in Washington, and moved into bigger, government-provided offices Sept. 4. Some of Romney's top campaign advisers, including former private equity colleague Bob White, are preparing to take on larger roles in the transition.

Looming over the standard transition discussions is the big policy fight on the horizon — created by lawmakers trying to force a deal to reform entitlements and cut government spending — and what role Romney should take if elected.

President Obama also faced significant, pressing policy problems and began grappling with them before the inauguration. The country's financial system was in crisis, work was beginning on an economic stimulus plan and U.S. automakers were still in trouble. In the early months of his term, Mr. Obama pushed a stimulus bill through Congress and restructured the auto companies in a bailout process that Mr. Bush had begun.

This time around, the newly inaugurated president would likely face the winter session of Congress with negotiations between lawmakers over the economy well under way.

Congress created the fiscal cliff threat when it tied enormous defense and discretionary spending budget cuts to passing a broad deficit-reduction deal.

Romney's campaign refused to discuss its transition team's fiscal-cliff planning at length, with officials careful not to be perceived as preparing prematurely for an election far from decided. Republicans on Capitol Hill said transition officials have begun informal conversations with GOP leaders in the House, and lawmakers are paying close attention to Romney's public statements about how he wants to handle the fiscal cliff in the event he wins.

Romney has said that if elected, he wants Congress and Mr. Obama to put off any permanent solution until after the inauguration and has suggested he would be open to fixing the problems with a series of separate bills instead of one grand bargain.

"Let's have a year of runway, or even six months of runway after the new president is elected so that we can, we can have the tax reform and the military spending plans and the budget plans that are consistent with that individual's leadership and views," Romney has said.

Both Romney and Mr. Obama say they want to extend tax cuts for middle-class families. But Mr. Obama is opposed to extending cuts for individuals who make more than $200,000 a year and couples who earn more than $250,000.

"The president has long made clear he will veto an extension of tax cuts for the top 2 percent of Americans, wealthiest Americans," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.

Carney refused to say how Mr. Obama would attempt to approach the lame-duck session of Congress if Romney were to win the presidency.

Defense cuts are a second major issue. Both parties and the Pentagon say the cuts included in the automatic "sequester" are too severe and would impact national security. Congressional Republicans have said they don't want a temporary measure to prevent changes in defense spending, instead wanting to offer a permanent solution. Still, Republican officials said GOP lawmakers would likely be willing to implement a temporary solution if Romney were elected. That would allow Romney to deal with the cuts permanently next year.

Romney has made deficit reduction a centerpiece of his campaign. But he has repeatedly acknowledged that making them too quickly could risk harming the fragile economy.

Aside from the policy strategizing, Romney's transition team — it's made up of businesspeople, longtime Romney supporters and a handful of former Bush administration officials — has been drawing up lists of names for Cabinet posts.

Romney has a history of blending business and government. He did that as governor of Massachusetts, bringing in some former officials at his private equity firm, Bain Capital, to assist in running the state.

Leading the day-to-day transition team operations is Chris Liddell, the former chief financial officer of Microsoft and General Motors who helped manage the automaker's finances when it was going through managed bankruptcy with the help of millions in government funds.

Romney's finance team also is involved in plotting the transition.

While the government provides some support, campaigns are allowed to use leftover campaign money and raise an additional $5,000 per contributor for the transition.

Beyond the fiscal cliff discussions, Romney transition officials are weighing whether to allow registered federal lobbyists to take posts in the new government.

Mr. Obama placed restrictions on hiring lobbyists and has barred federally registered lobbyists from serving on government advisory boards, though he has issued waivers in some circumstances and hired lobbyists if they have been away from lobbying activities for a certain period of time. Romney is likely to lift at least some of those restrictions.

[kaptainamerika]

Romney says;
"Let's have a year of runway, or even six months of runway after the new president is elected so that we can, we can have the tax reform and the military spending plans and the budget plans that are consistent with that individual's leadership and views,"

No, lets not. I think we should start plotting his downfall now.

Romney's last ditch effort, with the odds 3 to 1 against, is to
A. be Obama
B. not talk to the press.
If he kept his mouth shut and espoused less heinous social policies, the odds would be reversed.
Romney has made lots of new enemies. #1 is still Romney.

[Aceduece]

If the Morman should get in, God forbid, I hope the Democrats give Mittens the same cooperation that the Republicans gave Obama the past 4 years.....absolutely nothing!

[canislupus16]

Romney isn't even elected and he wants - if he IS elected - to become President before he's sworn in. This guy has no principles or ethics, nor does he care about the Constitution. He basically just wants to be President to add that job to his resume.

[CapricornVladimir]

Low taxes, better paying jobs for everyone, how can you go wrong America? You will have Santa Claus for a president!

[msimamaji]

Ever hear about Pierce Scranton, that's Romney's newly hired economic policy director. Before getting hired by Romney, Scranton was a lobbyist for JP Morgan Chase, the same company that lost billions of dollars in risky trade deals.

If Romney gets elected, this is the guy who will direct Romney's economic policy. If you think that JP Morgan Chase gives a rat about you - well, I've got some nice Nigerian oil deals I'd like to sell you. (Direct from the Prince of Cameroun.)

If you are counting on your 401k for retirement, kiss that 401k good-by.Romney will eliminate Dodd-Frank. He'll shut down the SEC and Bain Capital will get ahold of your 401k - "harvest" your money and leave you penniless.

Everything that Romney does is top secret. He refuses to tell us anything about his great economic plans.

He's not running for commander-in-chief; he's running for con-man in chief.

We do not want a bunch of con-artists running this country.

We need to re-hire Obama and fire the entire lyin'-Ryan, Shifty-Mitty GOP.

[phwtb100]

Shallow_RepubsAre_CRET_Ns, Have you ever heard the saying "THINK before you SPEAK"?

The expiring Bush tax cuts are not singled out to the rich. As a tax professional, I assure you they will effect every single person in this country and that is why the CPA's and tax strategists are referring to 2012 as "TAXMAGEDDON".

Major changes are as follows. (Bush era tax cuts expiring.)
1. No more 10% tax bracket (even for low income tax payers). For every $100 in taxes paid now, for low income households, the tax rates will jump to as high as $280. Overall tax increases for middle class income ($45K- $200K) are as follows:
A. 25% bracket will increase to 28%
B. 28% bracket will increase to 31%
C. 33% bracket will increase to 36%
D. 35% bracket will increase to 39.6%
Additionally:
2. Self employment taxes increase
3. Capital gains rate increase from 15% to 20%
4. Dividends tax rate increase from 15% to 39.6% - 43.4%
5. Exemptions and itemized deductions for high income taxpayers will completely disappear
6. Marriage penalty reinstated AND comes with an additional tax penalty for filing Married, Separately
7. Child Tax Credit reduced from $1000 to $500
8. Earned Income Credit will eliminate the additional monies paid for children. No longer will it matter if you have children.
9. Education Savings Accounts will decrease and will eventually be eliminated
10. Credit for Employer-provided educational assistance will be decreased

11. Student loan interest deduction will be reduced

12. Scholarships will be treated as taxable income

13. Increase on bonds for school construction

14. Dependent care tax credit will be decreased
15. Adoption credit will be taken away

16. No more tax credits for education expenses for Special Needs Children

17. Employer provided day care credit decrease
18. Alaska Native Settlement Trusts decrease

19. ALL passive income will see taxes increases to as high as 150%

20. Tax penalties for ALL tax payers without private insurance, including low income families.

Payroll Tax Cuts Expire
1. Increase of Employer Taxes
2. Decrease in tax credits for hiring specific types of employees. i.e. Parolees, handicapped, seniors, etc.
3. Increased expense on employer offered Health Care

Section 179
One of the biggest changes for small businesses is the Section 179 depreciation. It will be dropped to $25,000 TOTAL annually.

Reinstatement of the Alternative Minimum Tax

Payback of the 2009 Stimulus.

Tax extenders expire to the tune of $20.5 BILLION dollars
Death Tax The 35% with a $5 million exemption expires and the old rates will resume. Old rates started taxing at $100,000

Itemized Deduction changes
1. Medical deductions will no longer be calculated at 7.5% of your adjusted net income but will be calculated at the 10% mark with a 3.8% surtax.
2. Standard exemptions are being decreased.
3. Student Loan interest deduction is decreased and will be completely phased out
4. Mortgage interest deduction is being down scaled and will eventually be phased out also.
5. Debt forgiveness will now encompass loss due to foreclosure. The ONLY option to escape this is to be declared completely insolvent and file bankruptcy. All debt forgiveness, except foreclosure, was considered taxable income as of 2011.

Talk about kicking them when they're already down!!

For ANY and ALL real estate investors:

You will see an increase on capital gains with an additional surtax of 3.8% and the re-installment of the AMT tax on all passive income. This will also include the sale of your PRIMARY HOME. The threshold for passive income taxation, for real estate, will be reduced to $45,000. Calculating the threshold will take into consideration, and add back into adjusted net income, ALL accelerated depreciation and deductible items for a higher adjusted gross income level. This could result in as high as a 50% tax rate across the board on ALL real estate income, as it will be the highest of the two rates, AMT or regular tax.

That means rents will sky rocket for the rental community.
you "THINK", and I do use the term loosely, the tax increases coming in January are a good thing?

[empirebuilder]

Strange that Obama was a senator before his election, yet appears totally clueless of everything that was going on with the country and economy in the fall of 2008. As a member of the senate, why wouldn't he have known about the financial stresses on the economy? His positiona and staff should have had access to all of the data and reports.
Answer: AWOL and shirking his responsiblilties just like the past 4 years. Lousy leader who loves the limelight- prima dona.
I give Romney great credit for foresight, planning, coordination and seeking out the best of the best to get us out of Obama's hole. Not cronies from his "Buddies and Pals Club" Chicago Chapter.

[Ur122]

And what decisions there can be? A year ago, when a debt ceiling was lifted, reduction of expenses from the 2013th was a main precondition. It can be cancelled now? But same there will be the real clownery. Besides, I don't think that not reduction of privileges will exclude falling of real gross domestic product (if to take away real inflation). Simply gross domestic product will fall together with dollar. There is a month to the next raising of a debt ceiling, and Chinese already say that will get rid from tresures.

[skeezix06]

And those without jobs? The poor?

[WhatWouldJesusDo]

Romney spits in the face of the Founders of this Great Nation who fought for economic justice with their blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

James Madison, in the Federalist No. 10, wrote the following: "The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact IMPARTIALITY; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample the rules of justice!"

Mr. Romney comes from a "predominant party" (i.e., the wealthy, here in America) and he is as un-American as one can get: Romney uses his riches in the vilest of ways, spitting upon the Founders' principles of justice.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court (in Citizen's United) has also spit upon the Founders' revolutionary ideals.

What's worse, is that both Romney and the Supreme Court (in Citizen's United) have defiled the teachings of Jesus with their gluttonous reverence for excessive wealth and power both derived from it and emboldened by it!

Jesus said: "Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first!" Matthew 19:30.

The lesson Jesus teaches is very clear: those who live privileged lives in this world (e.g., justices of the court and wealthy politicians) will be humbled in the next world, where their reverence for economic and social privilege is greatly disdained.