FAQs about recent analysis of the Romney tax plan

In a question and answer format, a new paper analyzes some of the recent issues raised by the Tax Policy Center's review of the Republican presidential candidate's tax plan. Mainly, the authors reemphasize their conclusion that the plan cannot meet all of Romney's stated criteria.

|
Evan Vucci/AP
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leaves after a news conference at Spartanburg International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012, in Greer, S.C .

Tax Policy Center’s analysis of Governor Romney’s tax plan has elicited much comment and misinterpretation. In a new paper, Sam Brown, Bill Gale, and Adam Looney clarify what the original paper did and did not say by addressing in a Q and A format some of the questions that have been raised.

The authors reemphasize their conclusion that Governor Romney’s tax plan cannot meet all of his stated criteria: lower rates, repeal of the AMT and the estate tax, maintaining preferences for saving and investment, not raising taxes on the middle class, and revenue neutrality.

The authors also find that the basic conclusions are unchanged if two preferences for saving and investment— the tax exclusion for municipal bond interest and the exclusion of inside-buildup on life insurance vehicles—are added to the list of base broadening provisions that might be used to pay for individual income tax rate cuts.

Check out the new paper to see the authors’ responses to questions about their analysis

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to FAQs about recent analysis of the Romney tax plan
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Tax-VOX/2012/0817/FAQs-about-recent-analysis-of-the-Romney-tax-plan
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe