As much as Republicans claim to want to reduce the deficit, it is easy to prove that claim a lie, because every economic plan Republicans suggest would have the exact opposite effect. Their plans all have one thing in common. They slash Federal receipts, greatly increasing the deficit. Rick Perry’s flat tax plan is no different. It’s just another tax cut for the rich.
The tax plan put forth by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry would mean a significant reduction in how much money the government takes in, an independent economic expert said Tuesday.
Perry is offering taxpayers two choices – either stick with the current tax system or opt into a new system in which they pay a 20 percent flat income tax. That incentivizes those who would pay less under the current system to stick with it, and those who would pay less under the flat tax plan – largely Americans on the upper end of the income scale – to opt for the new plan.
That would add up to a "substantial" decrease in revenues, says Ted Gayer, the co-director of the Economic Studies program and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Perry has yet to lay out all the specifics of the plan, which makes it difficult to estimate its full impact. But "it’s clearly going to be a reduction in revenues, I think fairly substantial," said Gayer. Many conservative Republicans want to reduce the role of government in society in part by starving it of funds.
In addition to allowing Americans to stick with the current tax code, Perry is maintaining a number of deductions under his flat tax plan, including deductions for home mortgage interest and donations to charity. That cuts against one of the key benefits of a flat tax plan. Proponents of a flat tax say it works because it simultaneously makes the pool of taxpayers larger and makes more kinds of income taxable by eliminating deductions, a concept referred to as "broadening the base." The broadening is diminished under Perry’s plan because many of the current deductions are kept in place… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <CBS>
In addition Perry’s plan eliminates capital gains taxes and estate taxes. Hedge fund millionaires who now pay only 15% will pay nothing at all. Ed Schultz covers this item and Perry’s flirtation with birtherism with Jim Moore and David Kay Johnston.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Of course, to make his plan revenue neutral, Republicans would be forced to slash spending on everything but corporate welfare.
The bottom line is that Republicans insist on lavishing such extreme political luxuries on the 1% that the 99% cannot afford to have them in office.
19 Responses to “Just Another Tax Cut for the Rich”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
YAWWWWNNNN! These Republican plans are all disasters, and they’re not even worth considering. There is something very fundamentally wrong with a party that hates government and hates to fund that government the way these yahoos do! (By the way, I mention Politics Plus quite favorably in my current blogpost, and you most certainly deserve the accolades! Thanks, TomCat!
Thanks Jack!! 🙂 {{{blush}}}
I’m honored!
Who is more stupid ? The clowns who seem to think the population is really blind?– Or the population that buys into their irrational and self serving “ideas” ;; I wonder if this makes sense to Perry ?
Well, the one thing repubicans have in abundance are clowns –>
Fabulous cartoon Nameless! I never was a fan of circus clowns, and these clowns from the Republican circus are worse than all other circus clowns!
Nameless, I’m sorry, but I had to delete the cartoon. Cagle cartoons are ©, and their use is forbidden without paying a fee.
I would say it’s the sheeple who buy the BS.
More moronic ideas!
Amen Patty!
Yeah, another Texas goober waving his pistol around . There are a lot of decent, good, smart people in Texas. Why do these morons get in positions of power?
Maybe the good smart people are afraid to leave home on election day, because of the pistol packing morons. 😈
The GOP hates big government because they LOVE big business. The reason is simple: They can make so much more money selling themselves to big business than they ever could serving the people.
Bingo!
Flat tax is akin to the flat earth society. Neither will get traction among the sane.
Good point! Flat is just a bad idea all around. 🙂
The GOP believe their cuts will increase in substantial job growth that will grow revenues exponentially. They are basically banking on a miracle…
Kevin, I don’t think the politicians and pundits believe it for a second. They know that the only purpose of trickle down is to gush up.
Very interesting . It seems that now that Cain has his 9-9-9 out and has created some talk, Scarey Perry is coming out with something. But the thing is that they won’t admit to is, despite all their protestations, these tax plans will only benefit the rich and will put the poor and middle class further in the hole, and I’m not talking golf because the poor/middle class can’t afford the green fees. Do these guys think that all Americans are stupid? The only stupid ones are the Republicans that think no one is wise to their tactics. Loved The Ed Show and his two guests — they were so spot on.
The following is a comment from today’s Care 2 site (same story) that I thought was very interesting. I like the suggestions. We have talked often enough about career politicians, and in not such flattering terms. This would put an end to that as well as provide, I think, a system more in keeping with the philosophy of the founding fathers.
“and it will take AN ACT OF CONGRESS to change the tax laws in favor of the middle class…those 99%ers! Here is WARREN BUFFETS answer to fixing Congress Wall Photos Warren Buffett, “I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told CNBC. “You just …pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term’s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it on.”
Thanks, Lynn. I planned to post this on a slow Sunday.