Romney’s Tax Plan: Give to the Rich, Take from the Poor

by Joye Barksdale  |  August 02, 2012

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney refers to his plans for taxes as “revenue-neutral tax reform.” But there’s nothing neutral about a plan that favors the rich at the expense of everyone else.

A study released this week on the effects of Romney’s income tax reform found that it would provide large tax cuts to high-income earners while increasing the burden on middle- and lower-income taxpayers. The study, by the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, also found that Romney’s plan would decrease federal tax revenues by $360 billion in 2015. 

The tax break in the Romney plan comes to an average of $87,000 for taxpayers earning more than $1 million, and $1,800 for those earning between $200,000 and $500,000, the study says. But if you earn less than $200,000 – like 95 percent of the population – you would pay an average of $500 more a year. In fact, taxes for the average middle class family with children will increase by more than $2,000 a year.

“The net effect of the plan would be a tax cut for high-income households coupled with a tax increase for middle-income households,” the study concludes.

The Romney camp dismissed the report as a “liberal study.” But numbers are neither liberal nor conservative. And in this case, they add up to a Robin-Hood-in-reverse approach that robs working families to pay the rich.