Las Vegas: Taxes, Lawn Mowing and Job Creation Myths and Realities at the Republican Debate

FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center presented it's summary and analysis of the most recent Republican Candidates debate:

Republican candidates hammered each other for 2 hours in a lively Nevada confrontation — and often strayed from the facts.

Cain denied that his tax plan would boost taxes for 84 percent of Americans, or fall heavily on those with lower incomes. A new study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says just that.
Santorum and Bachmann denounced Cain’s 9 percent “business flat tax” as a European-style “value-added” tax, which Cain also denied. The TPC study agrees with Santorum and Bachmann.
Romney claimed his Massachusetts health care plan “[doesn't] have a government insurance plan” and relies on private insurance. Actually, his plan expanded Medicaid, and relies on that state-federal government program to cover many of the state’s previously uninsured.
Perry and Romney clashed on job creation. Perry was mostly right in claiming Texas saw a greater number of jobs created than Massachusetts. But he was wrong that his state created more jobs in the last two months than Massachusetts did in four years under Romney.
Romney relied on a disputed study from an anti-immigration group when he said “almost half” the jobs created under Perry were for illegal immigrants. Perry called that “an absolute falsehood.” But more neutral estimates support the idea that some portion of the Texas job gains were due to illegal immigration.
Perry accused Romney of hiring illegal immigrants, to which Romney said, “I don’t think I’ve ever hired an illegal in my life.” In fact, there’s no evidence that Romney knowingly hired illegal immigrants — but he hired a lawn service that did, and was slow to fire the contractor.
Santorum and Perry were both off base in claiming that Romney once touted his Massachusetts plan as a model for the nation. He didn’t. He said it wasn’t necessarily right for all states.

Cain’s Tax Plan

Santorum said a new analysis shows Cain’s plan would increase taxes for a large majority of Americans, which Cain denied.

Santorum: Herman’s well-meaning, and I love his boldness, and it’s great. But the fact of the matter is, I mean, reports are now out that 84 percent of Americans would pay more taxes under his plan. That’s the analysis. …

Cain said that “simply is not true.” He also said his plan “does not raise taxes on those that are making the least.”

But Santorum is correct. An analysis posted a few hours before the debate by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that Cain’s 9-9-9 plan (for 9 percent flat taxes on personal incomes, business transactions and retail sales of goods and services) would result in tax increases for 83.8 percent of all individuals and families, compared with what they would pay under current tax policy. Taxes would decrease for those making over $200,000 a year, with those making over $1 million a year paying 15 percent less in taxes than under current policy (which assumes the Bush tax cuts are extended). As for those “making the least,” the TPC analysis — which is based on a computer model of the tax system similar to the models used by the Treasury Department and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation — concludes that those making less than $10,000 a year would see an average tax increase of $1,122, and those making between $10,000 and $20,000 would see taxes go up an average of $2,705.

The Tax Policy Center analysis is the most extensive and sophisticated yet attempted by any independent group. It concludes that “the three taxes combined are equivalent to a 25.38 percent national sales tax,” which is a conclusion very close to one reached earlier by a former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, Edward Kleinbard, who found Cain’s three taxes would have the same effect as a 27 percent tax on wage income, and would “raise the tax burden on many low- and middle-income taxpayers.”

Pages: 1 · 2

News and Issues, Employment, Issues, Politics, Government, Senior Women Web, Sightings

Las Vegas: Taxes, Lawn Mowing and Job Creation Myths and Realities at the Republican Debate

Cain’s Tax Plan

More Articles