Obama: Romney tax plan is "Robin Hood in reverse"

President Obama speaks at a campaign fundraiser in Stamford, Conn., Monday, Aug., 6, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

(CBS/AP) STAMFORD, Conn. -- President Barack Obama is labeling opponent Mitt Romney's tax plan as "Romney Hood," saying it takes from the middle class and gives to the rich.

Speaking Monday night at a campaign event in Connecticut, Obama said the GOP plan "is like Robin Hood in reverse."

Obama says Romney's tax plan would give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while forcing middle-class families to pay up to $2,000 a year in additional taxes.

The president cites a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that says millionaires would receive a tax cut of approximately $250,000 a year if the former Massachusetts governor gets his way.

"He'd ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than three million dollars a year," Mr. Obama said.

"They have tried to sell us this trickle-down, tax-cut fairy dust before. And guess what? It does not work. It didn't work then, it won't work now," he added. "It's not a plan to create jobs, it's not a plan to reduce our deficit, and it is not a plan to move our economy forward."

Romney spokesman Ryan Williams responded in a written statement, "President Obama recently said the biggest regret of his first term was not telling better stories. He's trying to make up for it now, but his stories just aren't true. There's only one candidate in this race who's going to raise taxes on the American people - and that's Barack Obama."

[ProfessorGrampy]

Please CBS, I beg you to please pursue the UBS amnesty on the Romney 2009 tax return. It could mean the difference in whether or not the electorate knowingly votes to elect a felon to the U.S. Presidency. No one with access is picking this up and there is no more important story!

[marcie10000]

QUESTIONS for the Fourth Estate: Are we not seeing Romney's 2009 tax returns because he took the Swiss bank (UBS, Credit Suiss) amnesty settlement? Did McCain not see the prior returns with Swiss bank holdings? If McCains's people did, is that why they rejected him for VP?

How did Romney amass such an incredible sum in a 401K or Roth IRA - did he undervalue "stock" from the companies Bain Capital amassed and then, call them de-minimus valued assets, and once the company had to create debt, have the stock rise under the umbrella of a 401K or Roth IRA?

Are we not seeing the 1999 - 2009 tax returns because he had Swiss bank holdings and was buying Swiss Francs to bet against the US Dollar?

Is Romney on the 2010 Swiss Bank's list of Americans who had accounts, accumulated interest and dividends, but did not report it to the IRS and shuffled funds?

These are basic questions. Romney's 2010 returns show moving Swiss account money and closing the account. Is Romney part of the Phil and Wendy Graham Club who got caught by Obama's Justice Dept investigation?

These are simple questions. Do your work, Fourth Estate!

[Eco99]

@marcie: I had the same suspicion as well after he released his tax returns. Amnesty or not, it would look really really bad if he was involved in that and took the IRS up the amnesty. The more I think about it the more I believe this is the case and why we will never see another return released as that would destroy his presidential bid. Something so easy to do and yet not do it smacks of wanting to hide something.

[occupy_cbs]

Seems that willard romney claimed a $4.8 million loss in Schedule D of his 2010 return, carried over from prior years. That helped reduce his tax bill for 2010, in which he paid $3 million in taxes on $21.7 million of income, for an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent.

The carryover means that willard romney probably claimed a much bigger loss a year or two earlier, which could easily have pushed his tax rate for 2008 or 2009 down to the low single digits. Most investors lost money in 2008, the year that Lehman Brothers collapsed and the S&P 500 stock index fell by 37 percent. Most likely, romney was no different.

[nearl451]

Obama states something true and obvious and all the usual rabid cons froth at the mouth.

Like Pavlov's dog. Salivate away.

[RickCoston]

Not only is Obama lying about Romney's plan, but he has devastated our economy putting more and more Americans in poverty, on food stamps and on the welfare/unemployment roles. The real story of Robinhood is that he stole from the Government (Sheriff of Nottingham) and gave it back to the people, Obama is the one who seeks to be "Robinhood in reverse" by stealing more and more money from the people and giving to the government to waste on his crony capitalism programs...Solyndra, Fisker Automotive, etc, etc. I guess you could say that Obama has been an Economic Terrorist, destroying the U.S. economy...a real "Osama Obama" when it comes to his inept economic programs!

[RickCoston]

Not only is Obama lying about Romney's plan, but he has devastated our economy putting more and more Americans in poverty, on food stamps and on the welfare/unemployment roles. The real story of Robinhood is that he stole from the Government (Sheriff of Nottingham) and gave it back to the people, Obama is the one who seeks to be "Robinhood in reverse" by stealing more and more money from the people and giving to the government to waste on his crony capitalism programs...Solyndra, Fisker Automotive, etc, etc. I guess you could say that Obama has been an Economic Terrorist, destroying the U.S. economy...a real "Osama Obama" when it comes to his inept economic programs!

[occupy_cbs]

Fact is, romneyhood wants the wealthy to pay zero taxes in order to put more of a tax burden on the middle class!

If romney has paid taxes, as he insists, he could clear up the whole controversy by simply releasing several years' worth of tax returns, beyond the 2010 return and the 2011 estimate he's already released. But he has refused, and there may be good reason for that. "I wouldn't be surprised if he paid nearly zero taxes in 2008 and 2009," says Brad Badertscher, an accounting professor at the University of Notre Dame. "It's going to look bad no matter what he does."

[Eco99]

Romneyhood. Excellent sound bite, accurate, memorable, oft repeated in such a short time and catchy. The Dems are finally learning and using GOP tactics. The difference is this sound bite is true. =))

[TJphoto]

Trickle Down only works when those tax cuts are used in the USA economy and not foreign markets. No provision for that anywhere. I guess it's time for another Re-Packaging for all the speeches at the Republican Convention.

[nearl451]

As Keynes also noted, they also only work when the money is used to further US economic growth (i.e. not saved or otherwie hidden from the economy).

[tvwatcher5345]

love seeing the dems playing dirty like the the republicans always do, (like what bush did to mccain in the carolinas they even do it to themselves), personally i would just keep reminding all the women the republicans want to take away their right to choose

[occupy_cbs]

occupy_cbs:
"Then 8 years later after those massive tax cuts for the rich in 1921 ("to spur economic expansion"), in 1929 we had the stock market crash and the Great Depression. And 7 years later after bush's massive tax cuts for the rich ("to spur economic expansion"), in 2008 we had another stock market crash and the Great Recession. Coincidence?"


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chevette: "Do you even know how to count?......lol"
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Sure do, but apparently you paid conservatrolls do not!

1921 plus 8 years gave us the 1929 Great Depression.

2001 plus 7 years gave us the 2008 Great Recession.

Maybe besides a civics course for you, a remedial math course also!

[occupy_cbs]

in 1921, before the boom/bubble decade that became known as the "Roaring 20s," the income tax scale was very broad, and the top rates were high. The top bracket, for those earning over $1 million (many millions in today's dollars) was 73%. In 1924, those tax rates were cut. The top rate was slashed from 73% to 46%. And the top bracket was reduced to $500,000 of income (again, many millions in today's dollars). The next year--1925--the tax cuts continued. The top rate was slashed to 25%, down from 73% just two years earlier. The highest wage earners--those who made $100,000 and up--got to keep a vastly larger share of their income than they had only a few years previously. And what happened to the economy? For a few years, from 1925-1929, the economy and stock market boomed. The decade became known as the "roaring 20s." Inequality--the difference in wealth between the top earners and everyone else--also soared to unprecedented levels. Then the bottom fell out.

So the top marginal rate was slashed to 25%, down from 73% just two years earlier, and for a few years, from 1925-1929, the economy and stock market boomed. Then the bottom fell out.

Sounds just like the 2001/2003 bush tax cuts, where the housing boom flourished for a few years after the top marginal rate and capital gains rate were cut, and then the bottom fell out just a few years later!

Thank you republiCONS for destroying our economy during the "roaring 20s" and the "roaring 2000s".

History indeed repeats itself!

[occupy_cbs]

It's odd that the richest people in this country complain the most about taxes, when they pay so much less as a percentage of their income, and have so much more than everybody else. I'm tired of hearing people like bill o'reilly and sean hannity whining like a stuck pigs. Those people never have to fear sleeping on a sidewalk in the cold rain or ever fear going hungry. But people like they and mitt romney wants us to believe that mitt once worried about getting a pink slip.

This is not only about robin hood in reverse known as "romneyhood," but a whole party of republican whiners completely in reverse!