Bipartisan Group Pans Tax Plans Of (Almost) All GOP Presidential Candidates
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Among the GOP field, one report finds only Ron Paul's tax plan wouldn't increase national debt
As we publish, US Budget Watch (part of the bipartisan group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget) just announced release of a report analyzing the tax plans of the GOP presidential candidates. (We’ll link to it when it becomes available.)
According to their research, only Ron Paul’s tax plan won’t dramatically increase the national debt.
In a preview piece for the Washington Post, Lori Montgomery writes that the plans proposed by Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich would add the most to the $15.4 trillion debt:
“Both men have proposed to sharply cut taxes but have not identified spending cuts sufficient to make up for the lost cash, the report said. By 2021, the debt would rise by about $4.5 trillion under Santorum’s policies and by about $7 trillion under those advocated by Gingrich, pushing the portion of the debt held by outside investors to well over 100 percent of the nation’s economy.Related
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The red ink would gush less heavily under former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the report said — at least under earlier Romney proposals that paired $1.35 trillion in tax cuts with $1.2 trillion in spending reductions and would leave the debt rising on a trajectory that closely tracks current policies.
But that probably changed Wednesday, when Romney tacked to the right and proposed to cut federal income tax rates by an additional 20 percent for all earners…
In a late-night addendum Wednesday, analysts for U.S. Budget Watch set a slightly lower price for the new tax provisions, suggesting that Romney’s entire budget framework would add about $2.6 trillion to the debt by 2021.”
As for Ron Paul, Montgomery writes:
“His policies would cut tax revenues by more than $5 trillion over the next decade, the report said, but the revenue loss would be offset by more than $7 trillion in spending cuts, including deep reductions in defense and federal health programs.”
As we’ve reported earlier, despite the Granite State’s reputation as a frugal, anti-tax state, voters so far rate the issue of jobs/the economy as being much more important than taxes and the national debt. In late November, the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released its WMUR Granite State Poll, which found more than 60 percent of likely GOP voters believed jobs/the economy was the most important issue facing the country. That’s compared to 10 percent for the budget deficit and three percent for taxes.
Interestingly enough, another Granite State Poll found those ranks on the issues held for voters asked this month about the biggest problems facing the state. Despite an unemployment rate well below the national average and a relatively good economy, nearly 40 percent of voters said jobs/the economy was their top concern, while less than 10 percent said the state budget and around five percent cited taxes.
