Posted on 10/22/2012 1:44:47 PM PDT by 92nina
A lot of discussion has been made on the specifics of President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romneys tax and budget plans. Based on statements made by both presidential candidates and CBO projections, it can be concluded that there is a drastic difference between their plans.
Our friends at the Tax Foundation have constructed a fun and convenient chart comparing the topline tax and budget positions of President Obama and Governor Romney:
I don’t see where he’s going to cut spending in any meaniful way. So best I can fugure Romney believes tinkering with tax rates will cause such an economic boom that treasure will collect $1trillion/year more.
Ok.
Do you have a chart that shows the tax bite on a married couple filing jointly that makes $150-250K a year? Small business owner territory?
If I understand him correctly there’s no change. Rates go down but deductions disappear resulting in no net dollar change.
Seeing that little AMT time bomb go away would be nice.
This has been said over and over again so you must be ignoring it. The tax plan is only a part of the plan.
the rest of the plan involves reversing the intrusive regulations that are hurting the economy such as Dodd Frank and ObamaCare.
Another major factor will be getting the agencies such as EPA, NLRB, IRS, and just about any and every other agency to end it's war on business. There is a difference between regulating and crippling
And finally, businesses need a stable government with comprehensible polices in order to be able to plan ahead and maximize their effort.
When these things are in place the economy and the country will explode in an orgy of productivity and creativeness that will shock the world.
These positive changes will result in good growth, in two years. In them mean time we continue to rack up $trillion+ deficits.
Plus there is the certainty that growth will all be eaten up by the starving cows of SSI, Medicare, Medicaid.
Maybe mere survival is the best we can expect at this point.
Following is a fully sourced table that looks at Romney's tax cut using 2009 IRS tax data:
Projected Revenue Gain/Loss from Romney Tax Plan (billions of dollars) 2009 IRS Data Feldstein ======================= =============== Adjusted Gross Income --> All 100K+ 200K+ All 100K+ ========================= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= Income tax before credits 976 682 449 953 Dividends & capital gains 49* 49* ------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Tax affected by rate cut 927 904 Revenue loss of 20% cut 185 181 Alternative minimum tax 23 23 Investing tax cut 15* 15* ------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Static revenue loss 223 219 Dynamic revenue loss 190* 186* ========================= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= Home mortgage interest 421 199 67 State and local taxes 252 184 113 Real estate taxes 168 88 36 Contributions deduction 158 99 59 Other itemized deductions 206 67 30 ------------------------- ------- ------- ------- Total itemized deductions 1,204 637 305 636 Revenue gain at 30% 191 91 191 Revenue gain at 25%|27% 159 82 159 ================================================================= Note: following are estimates of revenue loss not included above: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Estate tax elimination 21* Phase in of deduction loss 15* ================================================================= * estimated by Feldstein (else 2009 IRS data) Sources: 2009 IRS Tax Data, Table 1.4, Sources of Income, Adjustments, and Tax Items 2009 IRS Tax Data, Table 2.1, Sources of Income, Adjustments, Itemized Deductions Martin Feldstein's Wall Street Journal article, August 28, 2012 Martin Feldstein's blog post, September 02, 2012You can find an analysis of the numbers at this link. As the table and analysis show, it does not appear to be mathematically possible, much less politically possible, to pay for the Romney tax cuts by cutting deductions without raising taxes on the middle-class, something that Romney has pledged not to do.
To be fair, one possible explanation is the item in the ATR chart says states that the Romney plan "eliminates most [tax expenditures], except middle-class preferences for mortgage, health, retirement, and charity". If the Romney plan were to eliminate popular credits like the child tax credit and the personal exemption, perhaps the numbers could work. Of course, this would be politically impossible. That's another reason for demanding good sources. It would clarify what the ATR chart is including in this item.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.