Debating Mitt Romney's Proposal for Tax Reform
Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute, Ryan Ellis of Americans for Tax Reform, and Josh Barro of Bloomberg debate the plan.
- Earlier this week, I published a detailed discussion of Mitt Romney's tax-reform proposal on my Forbes blog, The Apothecary.
Tax Experts Show Why Mitt Romney's Middle-Class Tax Cut Would Work - ForbesMitt Romney has proposed a significant overhaul of America's income tax code, revolving around three principles: reducing tax rates for e...- That discussion centers around a report by a left-of-center think tank, the Brookings-Urban Tax Policy Center (TPC). The TPC authors argue that Romney's tax plan, by promising to cut tax rates for everyone while maintaining revenue neutrality, will result in an $86-billion-per-year tax increase on the middle class. In my report, I point out that with five minor adjustments to the TPC's assumptions, that $86 billion tax increase is reversed into a $40 billion decrease.
- On the same day I published my piece, Josh Barro wrote in Bloomberg View that Romney's plan doesn't add up.
- The Real Reason Romney's Tax Math Doesn't Add Up - Bloomberg1 day ago ... Mitt Romney's tax plan has three key planks. He cuts personal income tax rates by 20 percent across the board; he eli...
- Later that day, Ryan Ellis, Director of Tax Policy at the Americans for Tax Reform, tweeted about my piece, and asked Josh what he thought about it. Here's their exchange. I've annotated their conversation to explain the abbreviations they're using.
RT @aviksaroy: Tax Experts Show Why Mitt Romney's Middle-Class Tax Cut Would Work: onforb.es/VPJ4Ma @Forbes- @jbarro given your column today, what is your response to @aviksaroy's column on the pay-fors? onforb.es/VPJ4Ma
- AGI = Adjusted Gross Income.
@RyanLEllis TPC has done this math, but a key thing to note is getting to $0 shortfall isn't enough.- @RyanLEllis that analysis is based on a cliff where all filers over $200k AGI have deductions immediately stripped.
- @RyanLEllis you need a lot of margin on the shortfall to avoid unacceptably high marginal rates in a phaseout range.
- HI = Health Insurance.
- @RyanLEllis HI premiums are a larger share of income for people lower on the income scale, I discuss them, they bolster my point
- SOI = the IRS's Statistics of Income.
