"I can describe Mitt Romney’s tax policy promises in two words: mathematically impossible."

[ProSense]

Romney tax plan on table. Debt collapses table.

Posted by Ezra Klein

I can describe Mitt Romney’s tax policy promises in two words: mathematically impossible.

Those aren’t my words. They’re the words of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which has conducted the most comprehensive analysis to date of Romney’s tax plan and which bent over backward to make his promises add up. They’re perhaps the two most important words that have been written during this U.S. presidential election.

<...>

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities produced its own analysis of Romney’s plan, based on an assumption that Romney pays for half of his tax cuts through spending cuts. The conclusion: By 2022, Romney would need to cut all non-defense, non-Social Security programs by 49 percent. That is not plausible, to say the least.

The Romney campaign has not provided good answers to the questions raised by its own math. But we already knew the Romney campaign didn’t have good answers. If Romney had good answers, he would have made good on his rhetoric and put his plans on the table.

<...>

This is not a surprise. Even some Republican policy experts admit in private that Romney’s promises simply don’t add up. To twist Abraham Lincoln’s famous formulation, the Romney campaign has decided it’s better to remain silent and be thought evasive than to reveal your plan and remove all doubt that you’re cutting taxes on the rich while increasing the deficit, raising taxes on the middle class and cutting programs for the poor.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/04/romney-tax-plan-on-table-debt-collapses-table/

FLASHBACK: Romney Economic Advisers Predicted Bush Tax Cuts Would Lead To Huge Job Growth (updated)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021071809

[pinto]

1. +1. "the words of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center"

[progree]

2. Clint Eastwood begs to differ, he thinks Robme will restore a decent tax system .. people not pitted

http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-today-august-5-2012-104500855.html?_esi=1

CLINT EASTWOOD ENDORSES MITT ROMNEY
Actor-director Clint Eastwood appeared at a California fundraiser for Mitt Romney on Friday to endorse the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Eastwood said that he supports Romney because "the country needs a boost," and he believes Romney would restore "a decent tax system" in which people aren't "pitted against one another." The endorsement comes months after Eastwood appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Chrysler that some saw as a nod toward President Obama. At the time, Eastwood denied having any political leanings.

To which there was this comment:

Yeah, thanks Clint. Clint says he believes Romney would restore "a decent tax system" in which people aren't "pitted against one another." When did we have such a tax system? LOL. So far, we don't know what Romney's tax policy is, some airy fairy stuff about cutting tax rates while still collecting the same amount of revenue, well good luck Mr. Wizard. BTW, we don't want to go back to Bush era policies that sank the stock market (S&P 500 down 37% in his 8 years, compare that to being up 64% so far under Obama), and we don't want the Bush policies that raised the unemployment rate 3.5 percentage points - creating only 1.1 million jobs in 8 years (Obama has created 4.0 million in the last 29 months; Clinton created 22.7 million during his 8 years). Romney was 47th out of 50 states in job creation as governor of Massachusetts -- yes, only 3 states did worse. Clint, you are rich enough not to have to work or worry about retirement funds running out, but for the rest of us, we can't afford anymore RepublCON policies.