Idaho Governor, Senator To Promote Romney’s New Tax Plan

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Mitt Romney campaigning in Denver, CO earlier this month.

For the second time this month Idaho Republicans Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and Senator Jim Risch are stumping for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Romney detailed a new tax plan earlier this week, the same day President Barack Obama unveiled his.  Now, Otter and Risch are hosting a press conference call this afternoon to tout Romney’s plan.

Romney has previously favored maintaining current individual income tax rates and lowering the top corporate tax rate ten percent.  His website notes he’d like to “pursue a conservative overhaul of the tax system of the long term.”

Now, Romney is proposing a new plan that would decrease the individual rate.  Here’s more from The Washington Post:

“The former Massachusetts governor proposed reducing the rates for individual taxpayers by a fifth, meaning that the highest earners would pay a top rate of 28 percent, compared with 35 percent today. He also suggested taxing corporate profits at a rate of 25 percent.” – WashingtonPost.com

Bloomberg reports Romney’s plan assumes a certain level of economic growth in order for the proposal to work.

“Everyone would agree that cutting rates and getting rid of some preferences would increase economic growth,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. “We’d recoup some of the revenues. But how much? How quickly? Would it last?”

The former Massachusetts governor’s tax proposals could cost the Treasury about $4 trillion to $6.2 trillion in forgone revenue over the next decade, compared with extending tax rates that expire at the end of 2012. The lower estimate is based on figures from the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the higher figure comes from the Center for American Progress, a Washington group often aligned with Democrats. – Bloomberg.com

Idaho Republicans will have their chance to weigh in March 6 at the GOP caucus.