Analysis: Romney tax plan strongly favors the rich
The analysis out Thursday from the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution think tanks, finds that under Romney's plan the bottom 20 percent would see their average federal tax rate increase $149, or 1.3 percent.
The top 20 percent, meanwhile, would see an average tax cut of $16,134 -- a 5.4 percent reduction in their tax rate. The top one percent of earners would see their average tax rate fall by nearly $150,000 per year, and the top 0.1 percent would see a reduction of more than $725,000.
Romney's original plan called for making the Bush-era tax cuts permanent, getting rid of the estate tax (now paid only by those with estates worth $5 million or more), getting rid of taxes on investment income for those making less than $200,000, and lowering the corporate tax rate ten points to 25 percent. Last week he said he would also cut marginal, individual income tax rates by 20 percent for everyone who pays taxes.
According to the Tax Policy Center, Romney's plan would add $900 billion to the deficit in 2015, when the changes would go into full effect. The group has also found that the 20 percent tax cut, combined with Romney's proposal to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, would add $3 trillion to the deficit over ten years - even if the Bush-era tax cuts and more recent tax cuts are extended. (That part of the analysis looked only at the impact of those two proposals, not Romney's tax plan overall.)
A few important notes: Romney has said he would offset revenue lost by the tax cuts by eliminating deductions and loopholes in order to broaden the tax base, though he has not specified what he would do. Thus any offset is not included in the analysis.
In addition, Romney and his Republican allies have long argued that tax cuts will stimulate the economy and thus boost tax revenues in ways that are not measured in analyses like these. As the Tax Policy Center notes, "Gov. Romney says that the reductions in tax breaks, in combination with moderately faster economic growth brought about by lower tax rates, will make the individual income tax changes revenue neutral compared with simply extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts."
President Obama's tax plan, according to the Tax Policy Center, would increase taxes on the top 20 percent of earners by two percent while leaving taxes on other Americans essentially unchanged.
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RobAla said, "I am surprised that CBS continues to run this propaganda; or maybe I shouldn't be - many Americans don't go farther than just reading the title of an article - and maybe that is what CBS is counting on..."
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In any but a GOP debate, the focus is more likely to be on established fact, rather than who published / reports the fact. To RobAla, however, it is more important to take wooden nickels from registered Republicans than to accept real coin from anybody else, no matter how authoritative.
Of course, RobAla has a mission-- to distract us from clear, factual evidence Romney is a Pawn of the Plutocracy, evidence provided by Romney, himself. RobAla's comment reveals how desperate he becomes when Romney delivers one of his signature self-damaging remarks, and Romney's latest comments certainly qualify as self-destructive.
But RobAla also labors under massive, GOP-induced ignorance characteristic of many GOP faithful. Clearly, he is unaware his argument exactly parallels the argument directed at Albert Einstein and others who were close to a breakthrough on nuclear fission. The official Nazi line about such "Jewish science" was that facts introduced by Jewish scientists was suspect because they were Jewish. After Einstein and other Jewish scientists fled to the United States, they led American research that produced the final weapon of WW2-- the atomic bomb.
Of course, RobAla doesn't recall reading a Nazi primer about such an argument, but he certainly follows it to the letter.
PS: For a factual look at economic policy and the current recession--
http://zfacts.com/us-economy
Hey robbie, your ad hominem attacks on the Tax Policy Center, only shows how little you know, since the liberal or "left-of-center" label applied to the Tax Policy Center (TPC) is really annoying. TPC for its entire existence has tried hard to get the analysis right-not right through a conservative or liberal lens, but just right.
The director of TPC, Donald Marron, served on George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers and was Deputy Director of the CBO under Doug Holtz-Eakin, a Republican appointee. Donald's about as hard core a moderate as you'll find in Washington, and a damn good economist who places a very high premium on getting his analysis right.
Gene Steuerle, who co-founded the TPC with Bill Gale, was an architect of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in Ronald Reagan's Treasury, and later served as Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) under Reagan.
Co-director Bill Gale at Brookings served on George H.W. Bush's CEA and is one of the most highly cited public finance economists of his generation.
Co-director Eric Toder did hold several high posts in the Clinton Administration, but is, like Donald, a raging moderate.
This is not a lefty cabal as partisan robbie would have you believe!
But isn't it possible that they do this without any agenda other than to provide accessible, high-quality information without any particular agenda?
Rhetorical question. The answer is "yes."
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haleyc85: "Okay, even if CBS News was liberal (not saying it is), it doesn't matter because the data is coming from a **non-partisan** think tank."
"Can you please explain to me how Romney's plan to raise taxes on the middle and lower classes helps them move up in the world?"
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Yes haleyc85, without a doubt the original conservitard poster only wanted to post attacks, without realizing you're correct, and that raising taxes on the poor and middle classes, willard's economic disaster would only help them move DOWN in economic status, while the wealthy -- especially like him in the top 0.1% -- would gain huge tax benefits that they don't need!
It is a known fact that economic mobility has decreased dramatically over the past 30+ years of "supply-side economic insanity."
Absolutely!
These republiCONS continue their class WARfare they have been waging for over 30 years, pushing the most pernicious economic policies of failed "supply-side economic insanity" on America!
The top 20 percent, meanwhile, would see an average tax cut of $16,134 -- a 5.4 percent reduction in their tax rate. The top one percent of earners would see their average tax rate fall by nearly $150,000 per year, and the top 0.1 percent would see a reduction of more than $725,000.
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Of course the republiCON party is for the wealthy and top 1%, and they prove it on a daily basis, as they continue their endless WAR on the poor and middle classes!
Disgusting!
CBS reported that analysis done by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institute found that Romney's tax plan was good for the rich and bad for low and middle income Americans. The problem is many Americans are either too ignorant or too lazy to know anything about these two "think tanks". Whenever "analysis" is reported, it is always a good idea to see who is behind the analysis.
Here is what we all need to know about these two "think tanks":
Urban Institute: The Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to study the nation's urban problems and evaluate the Great Society initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years.
Brookings Institute: President is Stobe Talbott III: In 1972 Strobe Talbott, along with his friends Robert Reich (a fellow Rhodes Scholar) and 2nd Lt. David E. Kendall, rallied to his friends Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton to help them in their Texas campaign to elect George McGovern president of the United States. Through the 1980s he was Time magazine's principal correspondent on Soviet-American relations, and wrote several books on disarmament, and his work for the magazine was cited in the three Overseas Press Club Awards won by Time in the 1980s.
These are anything but non-bias "think tanks". Just consider this when you read what their findings are concerning Mitt Romney's tax plan. These groups are pro-Democrat.
It's simple math robbie, which apparently they don't teach in Alabama!
"The top one percent of earners would see their average tax rate fall by nearly $150,000 per year, and the top 0.1 percent would see a reduction of more than $725,000."
The top 20 percent, meanwhile, would see an average tax cut of $16,134 -- a 5.4 percent reduction in their tax rate. The top one percent of earners would see their average tax rate fall by nearly $150,000 per year, and the top 0.1 percent would see a reduction of more than $725,000.
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Hey robbie, your ad hominem attacks on the Tax Policy Center, only shows how little you know, since the liberal or "left-of-center" label applied to the Tax Policy Center (TPC) is really annoying. TPC for its entire existence has tried hard to get the analysis right-not right through a conservative or liberal lens, but just right.
The director of TPC, Donald Marron, served on George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers and was Deputy Director of the CBO under Doug Holtz-Eakin, a Republican appointee. Donald's about as hard core a moderate as you'll find in Washington, and a damn good economist who places a very high premium on getting his analysis right.
Gene Steuerle, who co-founded the TPC with Bill Gale, was an architect of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in Ronald Reagan's Treasury, and later served as Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) under Reagan.
Co-director Bill Gale at Brookings served on George H.W. Bush's CEA and is one of the most highly cited public finance economists of his generation.
Co-director Eric Toder did hold several high posts in the Clinton Administration, but is, like Donald, a raging moderate.
This is not a lefty cabal as partisan robbie would have you believe!
Can you please explain to me how Romney's plan to raise taxes on the middle and lower classes helps them move up in the world? The people who are paying these taxes are working and working hard (sometimes 2 or 3 jobs). How is taking more money from them doing them a favor? How is decreasing taxes for the wealthy benefiting anyone? If taxes were raised on my husband's salary, that would mean less money for groceries because after our mortgage for our modest 700 sq ft, 2 bedroom condo (which was cheaper than renting in the area we live in), that's what we spend money on. If you increased taxes on someone who's making 8 million a year, where are they going to be hurting? In their already huge savings account -- Maybe their retirement fund will have a little less in it? They won't be able to buy another car? Does it make sense for people who are already struggling to have to struggle a little bit more so wealthy people can have a little bit more money in their pockets? I'm not asking for a handout and I'm happy to pay the taxes we're paying (even though it's a lot of money), but the idea that someone who is making 100x what my husband makes would see a tax cut while we have to pay more makes zero sense to me.
Mitt Romney's plan helps the MIDDLE CLASS more than the Rich!
Nice try, but no Banana for you.
Come on, November!! Go Mitt Romney, our soon to be 45th President!
Go MITT!
I will assume that you are an advocate for the rich!!!!!!!
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I am an advocate for COMPETENCE, INTEGRITY, LEADERSHIP, AND SUCCESS.
I have never been hired by a Poor man in my life. Mitt Romney's various successful business's are currently employing over 155 thousand people in this country.
You got a problem with that?
Go Mitt! A REAL LEADER for America!