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]

Almost Half (49 Percent) Of Romney's Tax Breaks Go To Families Making More Than $1 Million A Year-The Top 0.4 Percent Of Households. These Families Get An Average Of $146,000 Each. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan, 1/5/12]

Romney’s Plan Would End Middle Class Tax Credits, And Many Of The Bottom 80% Would Pay More.  Because Romney ends middle class tax credits for college, children, and earned income, most families in the middle get no help or actually pay more. On average they get only $138-less than $3 a week. In fact, the bottom 80 percent of families would get only 5 percent of the help, and many would end up paying more. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan, 1/5/12]

To Deliver These Regressive Tax Cuts, The Plan Drives Up The Deficit By $180 Billion In 2015 Alone. [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan, 1/5/12]

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 For The Lowest Quintile Group Of Households By 69.7%. Romney’s tax plan would increase taxes by $157 for the lowest income quintile of households, increases taxes by 69.7%. [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 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]

• Married Units Filing Together, And Making Between $30,000 and $20,000 Would See Their Taxes Increased By 90.8% Compared To Current Policy. [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]

Romney’s Tax Plan, Compared To Current Policy, Would Increase Taxes By 65.6% For Households Earning Less Than $20,000. Romney’s plan would increase taxes for households making less than $20,000 by $191, or a 65.6% increase. The lowest level of households, those making less than $10,000, would see their taxes increased by 68.9% [Tax Policy Center, Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan By Cash Income Level (Baseline: Current Policy), 1/5/12]

…WHILE INSTITUTING POLICIES GEARED TOWARDS HIGHER-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS AND CORPORATIONS

Romney’s Tax Plan Would Permanently Extend The Bush Tax Cuts While Also Repealing “Certain Tax Provisions In The 2010 Health Reform Legislation.” “Governor Romney would permanently extend all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts now scheduled to expire in 2013 and continue to “patch” the alternative minimum tax, but would allow some recently enacted provisions to expire and would repeal certain tax provisions in the 2010 health reform legislation.” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

Romney’s Plan Would Eliminate Tax On Long-Term Capital Gains, Dividends And Interest Incomes For Families Earning Under $200,000, While Repealing The Federal Estate Tax. “The plan would also eliminate tax on long-term capital gains, dividends, and interest income for married couples filing jointly with income under $200,000 ($100,000 for single filers and $150,000 for heads of household) and repeal the federal estate tax, while continuing the gift tax with a maximum tax rate of 35 percent.” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

Romney’s Tax Plan Would Cut Corporate Tax From 35 Percent To 25 Percent, Making Research Credit Permanent, And Extend The Full Expensing Of Capital Expenditures. “At the corporate level, the Romney plan would make two major changes: 1) reduce the corporate income tax rate from 35 to 25 percent and 2) make the research and experimentation credit permanent and extend for one year the full expensing of capital expenditures.” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

Romney’s Tax Plan Would Allow A Tax Holiday For The Repatriation Of Corporate Profits Overseas, But Does Not Specify At What Rate. “It would also allow a “tax holiday” for the repatriation of corporate profits held overseas but does not specify whether repatriated earnings would face any tax (and, if so, at what rate).” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

Romney’s Long Term Tax Plan Would “Reduce The Corporate Rate Further” While Broadening The Tax Base And “Would Move The Corporate Tax To A Territorial System.” “In the longer run, Gov. Romney would reduce the corporate rate further in conjunction with base broadening and simplification and would move the corporate tax to a territorial system.” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

Romney Would Permanently Repeal The 0.9 Tax On Wages And The 3.8 Percent Tax On Investment Income Imposed On Higher-Income Taxpayers Imposed By The 2010 Health Reform Legislation. “Gov. Romney would also permanently repeal the 0.9 percent tax on wages and the 3.8 percent tax on investment income of high-income individual taxpayers that were imposed by the 2010 health reform legislation and are scheduled to take effect in 2013.” [Tax Policy Center, Romney Plan Analysis, 1/5/12]

…RESULTING IN MASSIVE TAX CUTS FOR 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]