Saddest exchange of the morning shows
by digby
When you’ve lost Chris Wallace on taxes …
WALLACE: You wanted only two income tax rates, 10 percent and 28 percent. Tax capital gains at 12 percent. And corporate taxes at 17.5 percent.
Here’s the problem: the Tax Policy Center said the middle class, on average, would save $4,000, while the top 1 percent taxpayer would save, on average, almost $350,000. And you would cut federal revenues by 40 percent.
Question: how do you pass, create, impose a flat tax that, one, isn’t going to gut the federal treasury, that’s going to raise enough money, and, two, isn’t going to be a bonanza for the top 1 percent?
SANTORUM: Well, first off, those numbers are based on a static model. That means that nothing is going to change in the economy if you create all sorts of incentives for people to grow the economy and for people to work with lower tax rates. And I just reject that. I mean, that’s just a flat earth way of looking at economic growth.
One of the things I believe in is that you —
WALLACE: But if you lower the tax rate, as much as you are for the top, they’re going to do a lot better than the middle class because they’re getting a bigger reduction.
SANTORUM: The whole idea is to treat everybody fairly. That’s the reason we’re looking at a flat tax. We’ll have provisions in there that make sure that lower and middle income Americans are not going to pay more taxes — in fact, pay less taxes.
The bottom line is, we have to create growth. You want to reduce the deficit. You want to grow — you know, you want to grow jobs in America, then you have to do something to create jobs. And that means economic growth. And that’s — means you create incentives for people who grow the economy.
So, yes, I am — that’s why I said that the Republican message is a good message on growth, cutting taxes, supply side economics, but we have to make sure we orient that growth in areas where people who are suffering in America today, manufacturing, energy, construction, those types of jobs that create opportunities for good-paying jobs for working men and women, that those jobs are created here in America.
Courtesy of John Amato who quips, “here’s a tip, Rick. Just saying you reject something doesn’t mean it’s so.”
In fairness to Santorum, his economic platform is really pretty standard. What have any of them come up with that’s any fresher?
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