The poet William Stafford set himself the task of writing a poem a day. When someone asked him what he would do when his poem-of-the-day wasn't very good, he replied "I simply lower my standards." In order to increase output, the bar here is set at a low level - the point of this is to have some fun with current events and politics. I welcome contributions and comments. Now you can also follow Doggerelo on Twitter (@doggerelo). Because of continuing medical problems, I'm no longer able to post a poem-a-day. I'll continue to post poems, but at a reduced frequency, so please stay tuned.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Fiscal Magic


The Romney tax plan envisions cutting everyone’s marginal tax rates by 20% while remaining revenue neutral by eliminating unspecified tax expenditures (i.e. loopholes).  The tax policy center has concluded that, for the rich, there are not enough tax expenditures to be eliminated that would pay for their tax cuts and as a consequence, tax rates would have to increase for middle class taxpayers to remain revenue neutral.  The Romney campaign has responded that six independent studies have confirmed the validity of their numbers.  But an examination of the six studies cited show that most were blog posts or op ed articles by persons sympathetic to the Romney campaign.  Even these studies don’t support Romney’s numbers unless magical levels of economic growth are put into the equations,

The other guys always contend
We make claims that we cannot defend
But six separate studies
Carried out by our buddies
Show magic trumps math in the end.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To add to the Matthew O'Brien Atlantic article:

Every person in the middle class who is thinking of voting for Mitt Romney should be demanding that he explain this "revenue neutral" 20% tax cut (and don't forget, he is also going to raise defense spending from current level of 2.3% of GDP to 4%). According to the Joint Committee on Taxation the three largest loopholes to close are the following:

1- The exemption for employer contributions for health insurance.
2- Deduction of mortgage interest.
3- Defined contribution retirement plans (a duty on savings in 401k plans).

The loss of these deductions would screw the middle class. So before voting for him, folks should demand to have this explained, in detail, and not be talked down that "it is too complicated to get into" or that "we will work it out in a bi-partisan manner after the election" or some other filibuster.

-Nessie