Monday, December 13, 2010

Mitt Romney: Reject the Compromise Tax Bill. It's a bad deal.


Death and taxes, it is said, are life's only two certainties. But in the wake of President Obama's tax compromise with congressional Republicans, only death retains the status of certainty: The future for taxes has been left up in the air. And uncertainty is not a friend of investment, growth and job creation.
The above was the opening of an op-ed penned by Mitt Romney in today's USA TODAY. In it Romney rejects the compromise bill  pointing out the following:
  • The deal keeps current tax rates from rising to pre-Bush era levels for two years. But in 2013, unless Congress acts again, rates will increase dramatically
  •  A temporary solution only creates uncertainty and keeps entrepreneurs and employers from expanding for the long term.
    • It will add to the deficit. The total package will cost nearly $1 trillion, resulting in substantial new borrowing at a time when we are already drowning in red ink.
    •  Because ONLY employee's payroll tax is lowered and not the employers share, it fails to encourage what the American people want even more than lower taxes — more good jobs.
    • Extending unemployment benefits an additional 13 months, should not be used as an excuse to ignore the very real problems of our unemployment system. Jobless benefits need to be redone to accommodate a flexible economy like ours.

    Mitt Romney goes into specific details for all my bullet points above. He ends with this:
    President Obama has reason to celebrate. The deal delivers short-term economic stimulus, and it does so at the very time he wants it most, before the 2012 elections. But the long term health of our great engine of prosperity will remain very much in doubt. To the twin inevitabilities of death and taxes, we may now have to add persistent high unemployment.
    For the specifics of Romneys objections and to read the op-ed, go HERE.

    23 comments:

    Doug NYC GOP said...

    Ahhh...good job Bos, you beat me to it. Just this at NRO and was going to post.

    He did nice job on this one.

    illinoisguy said...

    I was hoping Mitt would come out against this compromise. We did not have to compromise. We were in the drivers seat....sure hope they fight like crazy against it's passage.

    Anonymous said...

    I love it When Mitt and Jim DeMint are on the same page.

    Romney / DeMint in 2012!

    zeke

    Ann said...

    Ann,

    I agree with Romney. We're holding all the cards on this. Get rid of the pork, then pass the bill extending the tax cuts permanently.

    Pablo said...

    I will have to post something about this piece sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday when I get a chance. I agree with Romney's assertion that we need a permanent tax code, but how does he expect to lower the deficit with the Bush taxes made permanent? He would have to trim a whole LOT of government to make up for the loss in revenue.

    illinoisguy said...

    Pablo, there is a tremendous amount of growth available within our economy. Done properly by someone with the brains of Romney, I'll guarantee you that we can cut the deficit without raising taxes.

    Anonymous said...

    Great, he finally followed Mrs. Palin's lead.


    OHIO JOE

    Bill589 said...

    Pablo -
    Part of being a conservative is wanting a small, constitutionally limited government. So trimming a whole LOT of our enormous government is a good thing. And with lowering taxes, the revenue collected may actually increase as jobs are created and more people are paying tax. (It also helps that less people will be taking tax money through unemployment checks.) IMO, Mitt is great at this money/business/economy stuff.

    Bill589 said...

    I probably will never question Mitt’s brains. But would he do the right thing even when it’s against the big government elite on the right and the left? For me, the question is more about the size of his cojones.

    Ohio Joe,
    Yeah, Sarah did mention similar a while ago. She has a way of leading. At least Mitt is ahead of Huck and Newt on this.

    Anonymous said...

    "At least Mitt is ahead of Huck and Newt on this." I am not even sure about that.


    OHIO JOE

    Doug NYC GOP said...

    Great, he finally followed Mrs. Palin's lead. -OJ
    ----

    Lead? Tweeting is leadership? What does she think about it in DETAIL? We never get that from her. She is a Political Big Mac - looks good, but lots of empty calories......
    ------

    Posted at 3:36 PM ET, 12/ 8/2010
    Sarah Palin tweets on tax deal
    By Jennifer Rubin
    The problem with conducting a public policy debate on Twitter is that issues don't have 140-character solutions. Moreover, by relying on Twitter to pronounce on major issues, one runs the risk of being misunderstood or not understood at all.

    Sarah Palin tweets:

    Obviously Obama is so very, very wrong on the economy & spins GOP tax cut goals;so fiscal conservatives: we expect you to fight for us &......America's solvency

    What is she talking about? It is obvious that an extension of the Bush tax cuts is wrong? Or is it obvious that Obama is adopting ideas that were once Republican positions? If the latter, it should be a good thing, one would think. This is Palin at her worst -- reflexively anti-deal making, grandstanding, imprecise and unreasoned. If she has a specific policy argument -- e.g. the payroll tax "costs" too much for too little job growth -- then you'd think she, who has been accused of being light on policy knowledge, would want to spell . . er . . . tweet that out.

    For some time, liberal pundits have been taunting conservatives that they need "adult" or "mature" leadership. Right now, Obama is short on both qualities. His shoddy performance yesterday highlights the opportunity for Republicans to field a candidate in 2012 who appears more presidential than the incumbent. But Palin certainly doesn't give the impression she would be able to step into that role.

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2010/12/sarah_palin_tweets_on_tax_deal.html

    Right Wingnut said...

    Conservative pundit, John Podhoretz clearly isn't impressed.

    And the Mitt Romney, Most Inauthentic Politician in America, Drive to the Presidency continues: http://goo.gl/1gMyj

    http://twitter.com/jpodhoretz/status/14470083053101056

    Anonymous said...

    "Moreover, by relying on Twitter to pronounce on major issues, one runs the risk of being misunderstood or not understood at all." Haha, yeah of course the Liberals won't understand her her policies on Twitter. They do not understand lower taxes period."


    OHIO JOE

    Right Wingnut said...

    Doug you left off the link to the Thomas Sowell article from Palin's tweet. Was that on purpose?

    ...America's solvency. Read Sowell: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2010/12/thomas-sowell-tax-cut-rhetoric-doesnt-cut-it

    She also tweeted this:

    Thank you, @JimDeMint - DeMint comes out against tax deal, says GOP must do ‘better than this’ - http://t.co/BmjsAh3

    By the way, Doug, what is Mitt's postion on QE2?...on the Arizona Immigration law?...on the off shore drilling ban?....etc...

    He may very well have weighed in on some of these things, but since very few people care much about what he has to say, he gets very little coverage.

    Doug NYC GOP said...

    RWN - I linked to Jennifer Rubin's article. I saw nothing on thast page to link to Mr. Sowell.
    Where was his link?

    What's Sarah's position on START?

    This was a positive post on Romney, until OJ makes his crack...expect push back.

    Anonymous said...

    "By the way, Doug, what is Mitt's postion on QE2?..." Shhhhhh, don't you remember, he does not have a policy on QE2 because his camp think inflation is as real as the tooth fairy.


    OHIO JOE

    Right Wingnut said...

    Doug,

    http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa

    Enough for today. Gotta go...

    kelly said...

    Mike Pence has joined Romney and DeMint against this bill.

    phil said...

    Mitt is right, we could do better. What's the rush?

    Anonymous said...

    I think Pence was, publicly, against this bill a little before Mitt's op-ed...probably a week or so. He co-wrote the Pence/DeMint bill that is going to go up before congress as early as today. It doesn't really matter but Romney waited a little bit before he let his opinion on the bill be known. Unfortunately this is one of the reasons some people do not support Romney, I can appreciate his careful concern on the topics but sometimes it seems he is waiting to see the reaction from the public and his competitors before he weighs in on a policy...other than START and nobody is really sure if it is a good treaty or not.

    JR

    Right Wingnut said...

    JR,

    If START is such a critical issue to him, I don't understand why he hasn't taken to the airways to become a more vocal voice of opposition. Perhaps it's because he ends up spending the first fifteen minutes of every interview answering questions about RomneyCare.

    Anonymous said...

    RW,

    No matter what anybody on this site says...Romneycare will be a big issue for him to defend in the primaries or apologize for and explain in the general...the press, Obama and his Republican opponents will make sure of that. There is no way around it.

    As far as START is concerned...I have heard so many contrary opinions on it that I'm not even sure what to believe...on one hand Romney makes a very convincing argument but on the other hand, more than a generations worth of foreign policy and national defense experts, that lived and worked through the Cold War, agree with the treaty...why is that? What am I missing...what is Romney missing?

    I think one of Romney's problems, lately, is that he is not leading the discussion on a lot of topics. He takes a little to much time to weigh in while his potential opponents have at least mentioned their opinion.

    Sure this is a well thought out op-ed but there's nothing new in it that I haven't already heard from Pence or DeMint. Romney is just too calculated and he needs to take bigger risks on more kitchen table topics if he wants his early lead to prevail for the next year and a half.

    JR

    Revolution 2012 said...

    Mitt's correct. It's not permanent, doesn't address the screwed up unemployment benefit system and does nothing to stimulate those who are CREATING the jobs in the long term.