When less really is more

Mitt Romney has a very appealing campaign promise: Cut tax rates 20 percent and grow jobs, without increasing the deficit. (AP Photo)

Mitt Romney has a very appealing campaign promise: Cut
tax rates 20 percent and grow jobs without increasing the
deficit.

But he hasn’t laid out a specific budget. That’s not
unusual; why give your opponent an easy target?

But the numbers are still important, and if Romney
isn’t going release them, OTHERS will, in this case the
Tax Policy Center, an organization Romney himself has
quoted.

It took Romney’s promises and used economic formulas
developed by one of Romney’s own tax advisers.

Here’s what it found: If Romney reduces tax rates by 20
percent, and if those cuts unleash the glorious eruption
of job creation and growth that he predicts and we all
would welcome overall tax revenue still drops during his
first term by $360 billion.

Since he has also pledged not to increase the deficit,
the Tax Policy Center calculated what tax breaks you’d
have to eliminate. They were forced to eliminate
deductions for mortgage interest, health care, medical
expenses, and child care, among others.

And every scenario ended the same way. Households
making over $200,000 a year would pay less tax, and those
making under $200,000 would pay more.

Millionaires in particular would average $87,000 less
in taxes; while the middle class would pay an average of
$500 more.

Now $500 is not a horrible increase, but what the study
means is that if Romney delivers on his promise to cut tax
rates 20 percent, in terms of your actual tax bill, most
households pay more.