Romney will say anything to get elected and tonight claimed that he’s ready to help the middle class. But in reality, he believes he should pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families, something his economic plan makes very clear. Romney might like to say he’s going to help Americans, but his proposals slash taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans and do nearly nothing for the middle class.

ROMNEY’S TAX PLAN WOULD CUT TAXES FOR THE WEALTHY AND RAISE TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS

Romney’s Tax Plan Constitutes A Major Tax Cut For Wealthy Americans And Proposes Effective Tax Increases For People Making Less Than $40,000 Compared To Current Tax Rates. “The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center crunched the numbers — part of a series of analyses the group has done of the GOP candidates’ tax proposals — and found that the plan constitutes a major tax cut for wealthy Americans. But compared to today’s rates, Romney proposes effective tax increases for people making less than $40,000.” [Talking Points Memo, 1/15/12]

ROMNEY WOULD LET TAX PROGRAMS HELPING THE MIDDLE CLASS EXPIRE…

Romney’s Plan Would Allow Tax Provision In The 2009 Recovery Act To Expire, Including The “American Opportunity Tax Credit For Higher Education, The Expanded Refundability Of The Child Credit, And The Expansion Of The EITC.”“Tax  provisions in the 2009 stimulus act and subsequently extended through 2012 would expire. These include the American Opportunity tax credit for higher education, the expanded refundability of the child credit,  and the expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC).” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

…RESULTING IN A TAX PLAN WOULD RAISE TAXES ON LOWER-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Increase Taxes For Those Making Under $40,000. Romney’s tax plan would increase taxes for those making less than $10,000 by $112. For those making $10,000 to $20,000, their taxes would raise $191. For those between $20,000 to $30,000 their taxes would increase $126. And for those making between $30,000 and $40,000, their taxes would increase by $14. Each income level’s income levels after-tax would decrease 1.9, 1.2, 0.5, and 0.0 percent respectively. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan By Cash Income Level (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Increase Taxes On Married Tax Units Filing Jointly For Those Making Less Than $50,000. Romney’s tax plan would increases taxes on married units filing jointly for those making less than $50,000. A family filing jointly and making between $50,000 to $40,000 would see a $125 tax increase. A married unit making from $40,000 to $30,000 would see a tax increase of $236. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan Married Tax Units Filing Jointly (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Raise Taxes For Tax Units With Children Making Less Than $75,000. Under Romney’s tax plan, tax units with children making less than $75,000 but more than $50,000 would see an average tax change of $60. For Tax units with children making between $50 and $40,000, they would see an average tax increase of $292. For families between thirty and forty thousand, the tax increase would be $352. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan Married Tax Units Filing Jointly (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

BUT ROMNEY’S TAX PLAN WOULD GIVE HUGE TAX CUTS TO THE WEALTHY

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Cut Taxes An Average Of $82,188 For Those In The Top 1 Percent, And By $464,005 For The Top 0.1 Percent – Cuts Of 14.2% and 16.8%. Households with incomes in the top 1 Percent would see a tax cut of 14.2% or an average of $82,188. Households with incomes in the top 0.1 Percent would have a tax cut of 16.8%, or an average cut of $464,005. Their after-tax income would increase 6.1 and 8.3 respectively. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan By Cash Income Percentile (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Cut Taxes By 15.1 Percent For Millionaires, Or An Average Cut Of $145,568. Under Romney’s plan, those making over $1,000,000 would see an average tax cut of $145,568. Their income after-tax would rise by 6.9 percent, and their average federal tax rate would decrease by 15.1%. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan By Cash Income Level (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

ROMNEY ALREADY ADMITTED HE WASN’T INTERESTED IN HELPING MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES

Romney: “Actually, I'm Not Looking To Put Money In People's Pockets. That's The Other Party. I Am Interested In Lowering The Tax Burden That Gets Taken Out Of Your Pockets. I Don't Want You To Have To Pay More And More To Government.” [Romney At Nationwide Insurance Meet & Greet, 11/23/11]

Romney Admitted His Capital Gains Tax Cut For The Middle Class Was “Not A Huge Tax Cut.”  Wallace: “But the argument is middle class people can't afford, they don't have enough money to have a lot of capital gains and dividends.” Romney: “Look, I recognize it's not a huge tax cut. It is a tax reduction and it allows middle-income folks to participate in making a brighter future for themselves and for saving. And you're going to find in this country that if there's no tax on savings, middle-income people are going to take advantage of that to save for college, to save for retirement, to save for things that they want. And saying, look, let's provide that same break to the high income people, that costs a lot of money, and is really not a tax cut that's needed there.” [Fox News Sunday, 12/18/11]

ROMNEY OPPOSED  CUTTING $10 FROM THE BUDGET FOR EVERY $1 OF REVENUE RAISERS TO REDUCE THE DEFICIT

Romney Raised His Hand When Fox New Asked Whether He Would Reject A Budget Deal That $10 Spending Cuts For Every $1 In Tax Increases. “A month ago, Mitt Romney, like every other GOP presidential hopeful, raised his hand when Fox News asked whether he would reject a budget deal that was $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases.” [Washington Post, 9/7/11]

ROMNEY OPPOSED THE BUFFETT RULE, WHICH WOULD REQUIRE MONEY MANAGERS TO PAY THE SAME RATES AS WAGE-EARNERS

Romney Said The Buffett Tax Was The President Scapegoating.  Joe: “Should Warren Buffett’s tax rate be lower than his secretary?” Romney, “I doubt Warren Buffett’s tax rate is lower than his secretary.” Mika: “Finish this thought.” Romney: “But I can tell you this, that I don't want to go around and see if we can find someone to scapegoat and what I’m afraid of with the president's new campaign is it's all about not -- are you better off than you were four years ago, but instead, is there someone we can blame, someone we can attack?” [Morning Joe, MSNBC, 9/28/11]

• The Romney Rule: Where Millionaires Pay A Lower Tax Rate Than Maids.  “Begala calls it the ‘Romney Rule,’ under which millionaires ‘pay a lower tax rate than maids.’ Like Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Romney receives most of his income from investments, typically taxed at a lower rate than wages. Obama has little to lose by alienating Wall Street. While the president enjoyed strong support from the financial industry in his last election bid, much of that money has switched sides to the Republicans, mostly Romney. At least 100 of Obama’s Wall Street donors from 2008 are now with Romney.” [BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, 10/10/11]

Romney Disagreed With Buffett, Suggested Buffett Write A Check If He Really Wanted To Pay More. “And several times today, he was asked about the New York Times opinion piece by billionaire Warren Buffett calling for increased taxes on the wealthy as a way to cut the deficit. ‘I disagree with Warren. And I do want to keep the Bush tax cuts in place,’ Romney said. ‘If he’d like to pay more, I’d like him to write a big check. A few billion from Warren would help out, so send it in Warren, and get your friends to do the same, that’d be terrific…I say that kind of tongue in cheek.’” [Boston Globe, 8/16/11]

ROMNEY REFUSED TO SUPPORT CLOSING THE TAX LOOPHOLE ON CARRIED INTEREST, INSISTING IT SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE TAXED IT AS CAPITAL GAINS INSTEAD OF INCOME

Romney Said He Would Continue To Treat Private Equity Income As Capital Gains. CNBC’s finance and investment guru Jim Cramer hosted Mitt Romney on “Mad Money” in October of 2007, and asked the former Bain Capital CEO whether or not he thought that he deserved “privileged treatment” on his taxes as a private equity fund manager.  Cramer said, “you were basically a fund manager like I was, I always felt that I—even though I was making millions of dollars, I should pay my fair share.  I don’t like what some of these hedge funds want to get away with now, paying less than their fair share. Do you think that on that so-called carry that you had on your bonus, that you should pay taxes, pay taxes like all the rest of the hard-working Americans, or do you think you deserve privileged treatment because you’re helping some pension fund?” Romney responded with: “It’s a capital gains and I’d continue to treat it that way.” [Transcript of “Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer,” 10/29/2007; CNBC, accessed 1/9/08]

Romney Opposed Closing The Carried Interest Loophole: “I’m Not Going To Be In Favor Of A Proposal To Change Something Which Is A Capital Gain And Turn It Into Ordinary Income.” “Romney made clear he opposes efforts to boost taxes for managers of private-equity firms, who often pay a lower rate than middle-income Americans. ‘I’m trying to bring taxes down,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to be in favor of a proposal to change something which is a capital gain and turn it into ordinary income,’ he said.” [Salt Lake Tribune, 8/29/07]