Mitt Romney is trying to turn the page from his 47% debacle and convince people that he really cares about all Americans and not just the 53% who pay income taxes. So – when Romney said, “[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” … he wants you to know that he really, really, really didn’t mean for you to hear that. He loves EVERY rich American … give him your baby if they have a trust fund right now and he will kiss it most assuredly.
But when you get to the core of it all … beyond the fact that he is an egotistical, entitled rich guy who doesn’t realize he was born on home plate …. his policies would be a disaster for middle class Americans. It isn’t just that he seems to only care about the rich, it is that his policies mirror his own personal preferences for the rich. He has acknowledged openly that his policies would NOT do anything for 47% of Americans. And because he thinks it is improper for Americans to pay payroll, gas, sales, real estate etc taxes but not pay income taxes … he would raise taxes on anyone not paying that income tax (source).
But for all Romney’s talk about cutting taxes for Americans … it is all smoke and mirrors. Not only has he not presented even a basic plan showing the math behind his plan. His plan would be to cut marginal rates and then reduce deductions. And today – he acknowledged that his plan really wasn’t going to amount to a tax cut for middle class Americans.
In Ohio on 9/26 – he said:
“I’m going to champion small business. Small business, where jobs come from. And let me tell you how to do that. One, as Senator Portman said, we’ve got to reform our tax system. Look, small businesses typically pay tax at the individual tax rate. And so, our individual income taxes are ones I want to reform, make them simpler. I want to bring the rates down. By the way, don’t be expecting a huge cut in taxes, because I’m also going to lower deductions and exemptions. But by bringing rates down, we’ll be able to let small businesses keep more of their money, so they can hire more people.”
So – we’ll cut your taxes and then reduce your deductions and you’ll still pay the same but even though he says the rich won’t get a tax cut … it is mathematically impossible for his plan to cut marginal rates from 35% to 28% and not cut taxes on the rich without raising them on the middle class as he has presented it. It defies math.
Greg Sargent has thoughts about Romney’s admission today HERE:
Either that is an error by Romney, or he is freely admitting that is tax plan would target exemptions and deductions enjoyed by the middle class. Romney has claimed that his tax plan — which contains across the board tax cuts that disproportionately and hugely benefit the rich — will be revenue neutral, and that he will accomplish this by targeting loopholes that benefit the rich. But he hasn’t explained which ones he’d target, and theTax Policy Center found that his plan could not pay for itself unless he also targeted loopholes enjoyed by the middle class, canceling out their tax cut and then some.
Romney has rejected that analysis. But here he seems to confirm that he would target such loopholes. Indeed, according to Sam Stein, some in Romney’s audience today came away with that impression, though as Romney supporters they didn’t seem overly concerned about it.
