Romney: ‘Six Studies’ Support Tax Plan

Romney, on the other hand, is wrong when he claims that “six studies” show he can do what he promises on taxes.

Romney, Oct. 3: There are six other studies that looked at the [Tax Policy Center] study you describe and say it’s completely wrong.

Only one of the six items (some of which are blog posts and one of which is a campaign white paper) was done by someone not advising Romney. The Princeton professor who wrote that study was on President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, and he uses an aggressive assumption for economic growth, assuming an extra 3 percent economic growth from Romney’s tax rate cuts. The average total year-to-year growth under President Bush, including any boost from his large tax cuts, was just over 2 percent.

Since we issued our findings (cited below) two new analyses have come out. A paper by Gerald Prante of the pro-business Tax Foundation concluded that what Romney proposes is possible, without raising taxes on middle-income taxpayers — if it produced at least an extra 1 percent annual growth in economic output.

Leaving aside whether that’s a likely outcome of a revenue-neutral tax shift, it wouldn’t stack up against Romney’s statement at the Hofstra debate, when he said: “I’m not looking to cut taxes for wealthy people. I am looking to cut taxes for middle-income people.” The Tax Foundation analysis found that assuming an extra 1 percent economic growth, those making over $1 million would get a cut of $113,792, while middle-income households making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year would see an average cut of $36.

An even more recent analysis by economist Michael R. Strain of the pro-business American Enterprise Institute, published in The Atlantic magazine, said flatly that Romney’s plan “doesn’t add up.” Strain wrote: “[T]he underlying analysis in the TPC study is sound, and it should be taken seriously. … [I]f you take Mr. Romney’s three promises literally then something has to give.” Nevertheless, Strain sees merit in Romney’s general approach — broadening the tax base while bringing down rates. He suggests that Romney would cut rates less than the promised 20 percent to keep revenues constant while holding middle-income taxpayers harmless.

Dubious Denver Debate Declarations, Oct. 4

Romney’s Impossible Tax Promise, Aug. 3

Romney: Obama’s $4,000 Tax Hike

Romney also has claimed that Obama “will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000,” but that’s bogus. The figure is an estimate of how much it would cost to service the debt incurred in Obama’s term — and in later years as well — if taxes were increased across the board. Obama isn’t proposing to do that any more than Romney is.

Romney campaign ad, October: [Obama] will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000.

Romney, Oct. 16: The middle class will see $4,000 per year in higher taxes …

The figure is based on a study by the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which looked at servicing the debt incurred since Obama took office, plus future debt projected under Obama’s most recent budget. One set of figures assumed all federal taxes would be increased across the board, preserving the progressivity of the overall federal tax code (that is, with different income groups bearing the same share of the total burden as they do now).

Based on that, an AEI blogger wrote an Oct. 2 post with the headline: “Obama’s big budget deficits could mean a $4,000 a year middle-class tax hike.” That was an average figure over the next 10 years, including the cost of servicing both the debt run up since Obama took office and debt to be run up in the next four years under the president’s budget projections.

One problem with this view is that debt will continue to rise for years no matter who wins the presidency. By the same logic employed by Romney, we calculated that the House budget proposed by his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, would “raise taxes” on the middle class by $2,732 — even assuming Ryan’s aggressive spending cuts could be accomplished.

The AEI study makes a valid point. Debts being run up today and in the future will require future taxpayers to cover very large interest payments for years into the future, especially when today’s low interest rates return to historically higher levels, as expected. But that will be true no matter who’s president, and neither candidate is proposing an across-the-board personal income-tax increase to cover those payments.

Romney’s $4,000 Tax Tale, Oct. 10

FactChecking the Hofstra Debate, Oct. 17

Obama: Romney Would Ban All Abortion

The Obama campaign pushed a bogus claim in a TV ad that said “Romney backed a law that outlaws all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.”

There was no such law — at all. Instead, the ad referred to a hypothetical question from an audience member during a 2007 debate. The audience member asked, “If hypothetically Roe versus Wade was overturned, and the Congress passed a federal ban on all abortion, and it came to your desk, would you sign it? Yes or no?”

Romney said, “I’d be delighted to sign that bill,” but added that a consensus for something like that didn’t exist in the country now. “That’s not where America is today.”

During that exchange there was no mention or discussion of rape, incest or the usual exceptions to abortion bans. And the fact is, Romney has been clear — both before and after that 2007 debate — that he supports exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. He has opposed abortion with those exceptions since 2005.

The Obama campaign also falsely claimed that the Republican Party’s platform called for banning abortions even in cases of rape or incest. But the 2012 platform is silent on exceptions, just as it was in 2008 and in previous election years.

The Obama camp made the claim on its website, saying that Romney “also supports the Republican Party platform, which includes a Human Life Amendment that bans abortion without those exceptions.” That’s baloney. The plain fact is, the only human life amendment that ever came to a vote in either house of Congress allowed exceptions.

James Bopp, one of the authors of the GOP abortion plank, confirmed our own reading of its plain language. Bopp said it “does not take a position on which version of a Human Life Amendment should eventually be adopted. We leave that decision to Congress and the people of the United States at that time.”

Twisting Romney’s Abortion Stance, July 9

Another Abortion Falsehood from Obama’s ‘Truth Team,’ Aug. 23

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