“One of the absolute requirements of any tax reform that I have in mind is that people who are at the high end, whether you call them the 1 percent or 2 percent or half a percent, that people at the high end will still pay the same share of the tax burden they’re paying now. I’m not looking for a tax cut for the very wealthiest. I’m looking to bring tax rates down for everyone.”
~Mitt Romney – on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” June 17, 2012

So Mitt Romney says that he isn’t looking to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans … he just wants to cut their marginal tax rates and remove deductions so that their net tax rate is the same.  Got it?  Just a couple of really, really simple thoughts:

#1 – In the late 1980′s – we tried this.  Democrats engaged in a grand bargain with Republicans to cut marginal rates and eliminate deductions for the highest income earners.  Simpler, flatter tax code.  Except – in a couple of years – those deductions were back under law and the richest Americans were paying less than ever.  FACT.

#2 – If his goal is to ensure that the rich pay what they’re already paying today as he says it is – why does he need to cut their marginal tax rates by 40% only to eliminate deductions THAT HE WILL NOT SPECIFY?

#3 – Americans are starting to pay attention to the fact that the vast majority of billionaires are actually on Mitt Romney’s side.  And it’s not because they really like the guy.  They really like that he’s going to cut their taxes and that could be worth hundreds of millions to these plutocrats who are trying to buy the election.

This is called bait and switch.  And I hope Americans aren’t buying it.

Except … independent studies have concluded that Romney’s plan would benefit the wealthiest Americans more than anyone:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities speaks about the Romney tax plan HERE:

TPC estimates that people who make over $1 million a year would get an average tax cut of $250,000 in 2015 (increasing their after-tax income by an average of almost 12 percent), while people making between $40,000 and $50,000 would get an average tax cut of $512 (increasing their after-tax income by an average of less than 1 percent), and people making between $10,000 and $20,000 would pay an average $174 more in taxes (decreasing their after-tax income by an average of 1.1 percent).

Adding to the hilarity of this whole discussion … not only has Mitt Romney not been willing to say exactly how he would both cut rates for millionaires by 40% and then keep their tax rate the same … not only has he been unwilling to give details on nearly any issue regarding his plan for America – he actually just said this:

“Unlike President Obama, you don’t have to wait until after the election to find out what I believe in — or what my plans are.”
~Mitt Romney

Greg Sargent does  a great job taking down Mitt Romney on his unwillingness to say WHERE he would cut deductions for the rich HERE.  So – Mitt Romney obfuscates and ignores the press with details for his entire campaign up till now but “unlike President Obama” – you will be able to know EXACTLY where he stands.  *wink*

President Obama spoke about the failure of “trickle-down” economics and why it’s bad for our country HERE:

They promise to not only keep all of the Bush tax cuts in place, but add another $5 trillion in tax cuts on top of that.

Now, an independent study said that about 70 percent of this new $5 trillion tax cut would go to folks making over $200,000 a year. And folks making over a million dollars a year would get an average tax cut of about 25 percent.

Now, this is not my opinion. This is not political spin. This is precisely what they have proposed.

Now, your next question may be: How do you spend $5 trillion on a tax cut and still bring down the deficit?

You can find a comparison of the Romney and Obama tax plans HERE:

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