Mitt Romney's plan to raise your taxes

By Richard K. Barry

Not that there's much new to be said about Mitt Romney, but it is good that serious analysis is starting to lay out some key facts for us. A new study done by the Brookings Institution, an independent, non-partisan think tank, analyzed Mitt Romney's tax plan and had this to say about it:

Our major conclusion is that a revenue-neutral individual income tax change that incorporates the features Governor Romney has proposed – including reducing marginal tax rates substantially, eliminating the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) and maintaining all tax breaks for saving and investment – would provide large tax cuts to high-income households, and increase the tax burdens on middle- and/or lower-income taxpayers. 

Steve Benen adds this fun little fact about the study:

This isn't a hack-job published using worst-case scenarios; it's the opposite. The Brookings Institution and Tax Policy Center made every assumption in Romney's favor, giving him the benefit of the doubt as much as possible.

Here's what President Obama had to say about the report on the stump yesterday in Ohio:

[T]he centerpiece of my opponent's entire economic plan is a new, $5 trillion tax cut. A lot of this tax cut would go to the wealthiest 1% of all households. Folks making more than $3 million a year -- the top one-tenth of one percent -- would get a tax cut worth almost a quarter of a million dollars. A quarter of a million dollars.

But it gets worse. Under my opponent's plan, guess who gets the bill for these $250,000 tax cuts? You do. And you don't have to take my word for it.

Just today, an independent, non-partisan organization ran all the numbers. And they found that if Governor Romney wants to keep his word and pay for his plan, he'd have to cut tax breaks that middle-class families depend on to pay for your home, or your health care, or send your kids to college. That means the average middle-class family with children would be hit with a tax increase of more than $2,000.

But here's the thing – he's not asking you to contribute more to pay down the deficit, or to invest in our kids' education. He's asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut.

Imagine that, Mitt Romney is all about raising our taxes.

I don't know. If voters can be made to understand this, this election should be over.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)