Smoke, Mirrors and Mitt Romney’s Economic Deceptions

by Clyde Weiss  |  September 21, 2012

In Mitt Romney’s world, facts – even the ones you use to support your own claims – are unimportant if they get in the way of a good story. On the campaign trail, Romney’s story is that he can grow the economy by reducing tax rates across the board without increasing the national debt. But his own facts say otherwise.

In an interview this month on ABC’s Good Morning America with George Stephanopoulos, Romney asserts: “The biggest source of getting the country to a balanced budget is not by raising taxes or by cutting spending. It’s by encouraging the growth of the economy.”

He proposes cutting income tax rates across the board by 20 percent. That includes slashing the top bracket for the wealthiest taxpayers from 35 percent to 28 percent. He also would abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax and the estate tax, and limit deductions and loopholes. That, he says, will grow the economy without increasing the deficit.

What’s his proof? Romney cites five studies, including two from Harvard and Princeton universities, to make his case. Only one problem – they don’t.

Two of the studies, authored by Romney campaign adviser and Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, actually state Romney’s plan works only if every household earning $100,000 or more lost all their deductions.

“Is that what you propose?” Stephanopoulos asked him of the deductions. Romney said no, but refused to spell out how he reaches his goal, saying only “those are my principles.”

A study by the Tax Policy Center (supported by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute) demonstrates that Romney’s plan is mathematically impossible. The Washington Post determined you can “take away every deduction from every wealthy household, the center calculated, and you still couldn’t make up the revenue the government would lose by reducing rates without raising taxes on middle-class households.”

Read more about Pres. Barack Obama’s workable plan to lift the economy. Read more about Obama’s efforts to help the middle class here.