VIDEO: Paul Ryan Booed At Town Hall For Defending Tax Breaks For The Wealthy

[ProSense]

VIDEO: Paul Ryan Booed At Town Hall For Defending Tax Breaks For The Wealthy

Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) embarked on a series of town halls across his southern Wisconsin congressional district. Ryan has gained notoriety in recent weeks as the architect of the Republican budget which extends tax breaks for the wealthy and phases out Medicare. House Republicans voted 235-4 in favor of the plan.

During a town hall meeting in Milton, a constituent who described himself as a “lifelong conservative” asked Ryan about the effects of growing income inequality in our nation. The constituent noted that huge income disparities contributed to the Great Depression and the Great Recession, and thus wanted to know why the congressman was “fighting to not let the tax breaks for the wealthy expire.”

Ryan argued against “redistribut” in this manner. After the constituent noted that “there’s nothing wrong with taxing the top because it does not trickle down,” Ryan argued that “we do tax the top.” This response earned a chorus of boos from constituents:

CONSTITUENT: The middle class is disappearing right now. During this time of prosperity, the top 1 percent was taking about 10 percent of the total annual income, but yet today we are fighting to not let the tax breaks for the wealthy expire? And we’re fighting to not raise the Social Security cap from $87,000? I think we’re wrong.

RYAN: A couple things. I don’t disagree with the premise of what you’re saying. The question is what’s the best way to do this. Is it to redistribute… (Crosstalk)

CONSTITUENT: You have to lower spending. But it’s a matter of there’s nothing wrong with taxing the top because it does not trickle down.

RYAN: We do tax the top. (Audience boos). Let’s remember, most of our jobs come from successful small businesses. Two-thirds of our jobs do. You got to remember, businesses pay taxes individually. So when you raise their tax rates to 44.8 percent, which is what the president is proposing, I would just fundamentally disagree. That is going to hurt job creation.

Watch it:

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[FrenchieCat]

1. Whomever unrecced this thread is a GOP TROLL! period.

[TheKentuckian]

7. Haven't had much room for agreement in a while but I do here.

Who to the left of Reagan would unrec this?

[rufus dog]

2. thanks for the link NT

[rufus dog]

3. What a wussy-assed prick

He turns his back on the guy as he is being asked the question.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Only 1.9 percent of filers with any small business income are projected to face top two tax rates

(Ryan knows what he's saying is a lie, but it matters not to him or his corporate tool party)

BIG MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS AND TAXES

By Chye-Ching Huang and James Horney

Supporters of various tax benefits for high- income households often claim that failure to maintain them would have an undue effect on many small businesses. But even assuming a broad definition of “small business,” such claims are often exaggerated or false. This paper examines three such claims.

First, critics charge that allowing the 2001 tax cut’s reduction in the top two marginal income tax rates for individual taxpayers to expire as scheduled would affect a large proportion of small-business owners. In fact, only 1.9 percent of filers with any small-business income are projected to face either of the top two income tax rates in 2009. By contrast, more than 14 percent of filers with small-business income claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-income workers. Thus, strengthening the EITC could help more than seven times as many small businesses as reducing the top income tax rates.

http://www.cbpp.org/files/8-29-08tax.pdf

[flpoljunkie]

5. Here's another chart for Ryan: Average income per family

[craigmatic]

6. If we can beat this bastard we shouldn't hesitate for a second. He's just begging for it at this

point.

[vroomvroom]

8. Top 1% == Small Business???? That is sooo wrong.

[AtomicKitten]

9. FFS. The GOP is STILL peddling the trickle down horseshit.

[ProSense]

10. Paul Ryan’s Plan To End Medicare Stirs Anger At Pennsylvania Town Hall Event

Think Progress: Paul Ryan’s Plan To End Medicare Stirs Anger At Pennsylvania Town Hall Event