Ryan Budget: Tax Cuts for Wealthiest, Increase the Deficit, Preserve Tax Loopholes, Destroy US Jobs

[Bill USA]

http://dccc.org/blog/entry/fact_check_paul_ryan_falsely_claims_house_republican_budget_would_ask_every/

Today on CBS' Face the Nation, Republican Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (WI-01) made four false claims when asked whether the Republican budget would ask everyone to sacrifice. He falsely claimed: (1) “We’re putting the budget on a path to balance and to pay the debt off”; (2) “We’re not proposing tax cuts”; (3) Republicans would “clear out all the special interest loopholes; and (4) the budget would “create jobs and economic growth.”

In reality, the Republican budget would increase the deficit, give tax cuts to the ultra wealthy, creates special interest tax loopholes encouraging companies to ship American jobs overseas, and destroy American jobs. The Republican budget would force the middle class and seniors to sacrifice in order to protect the ultra wealthy and special interests.

FACT CHECK:

RAISES THE DEFICIT

Ryan’s Plan Adds $3.1 Trillion to the Deficit; Adds More to the Deficit than Under Current Law. “Ryan’s blueprint, ‘The Path to Prosperity,’ would add $3.127 trillion to the deficit during the decade spanning 2013 to 2022, according to a table on page 88 of the plan. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in its March 2012 projections that if “current laws generally remain unchanged,” the federal government would incur deficits totaling $2.887 trillion from 2013 to 2022. In other words, Congress would save more money over the next decade if it allowed current law to continue than if it adopted Ryan’s budget.” [The Hill, 3/20/12]

Tax Expert Called Ryan’s Budget Plan Phony. “He’s a phony,” Robert McIntyre, the director of Citizens for Tax Justice said of Rep. Ryan. “But he’s always been a phony […] This is all smoke mirrors and no deficit reduction,” McIntyre concludes. “Have you seen the cover? It’s beautiful. That’s the best part. But he is proposing to increase the budget deficit over the long term.” [Citizens for Tax Justice, 3/20/12]

GIVES TAX CUTS TO THE WEALTHY

Ryan’s Plan Includes Tax Cuts for the Wealthy. “Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, is returning to center stage as the GOP doubles down on his conservative budget priorities — including tax cuts for the wealthy and a new version of his plan for major changes in Medicare.” [Los Angeles Times, 3/16/12]

$150,000 Tax Break to Millionaires. Ryan’s Plan specifies more than $1 trillion in tax cuts for families making more than $250,000. This equates to an average tax cut of at least $150,000 per millionaire. [White House Analysis of House Republican Budget, 3/21/12]

$3 Trillion in Tax Cuts for People Earning Over $200,000. Ryan’s Plan calls for cut taxes by roughly $3 trillion, with most of the tax cuts going to people earning more than $200,000. [Economic Policy Institute, 3/20/12]

New York Times Editorial: Ryan’s Plan Would Mean the Rich Pay Less in Taxes. Ryan’s plan “is one where the rich pay less in taxes than the unfairly low rates they pay now, while programs for the poor — including Medicaid and food stamps — are slashed and thrown to the whims of individual states.” [New York Times Editorial, 3/20/12]

PROTECTS SPECIAL INTEREST LOOPHOLES

Ryan’s Plan Also Encourages Companies to Ship Jobs Overseas. Currently, U.S. companies pay the tax rate of the country where the outpost is located and then, if they bring those profits home, often pay some U.S. taxes as well. Under the Ryan’s proposal, companies essentially would pay just the tax rate of the country where the profits are earned. According to the Tax Policy Center, exempting these offshore earning from U.S. tax liability “might encourage some domestic companies to move more of their operations—and shift both jobs and more reported income– to low tax countries.” Similarly, Citizens for Tax Justice concluded that adopting this type of system would increase the incentives for job offshoring. [National Journal, 3/20/12; Wall Street Journal, 3/19/12; Tax Policy Center, 2/28/12; Citizens for Tax Justice, 10/19/11]

Ryan’s Promise to Close Tax Loopholes is an Empty Promise. “Mr. Ryan became well known last year as the face of the most extreme budget plan passed by a house of Congress in modern times. His new budget is, if anything, worse, full of bigger, emptier promises. […] It vows to balance tax cuts for corporations and the rich by closing loopholes, but never lists the loopholes.” [New York Times Editorial, 3/20/12]

The Baltimore Sun Called Ryan’s Plan a “Con Game.” “[Paul Ryan] believes the nation can drastically lower tax rates — he would have just two income tax brackets of 10 percent and 25 percent — while slicing the deficit by $400 billion in the first year alone. How? Chiefly by closing some unstated tax loopholes and cutting heavily into spending in a way that he claims would juice the economy like some kind of experimental rocket fuel. Sorry, but most Americans aren't buying into that con game.” [Baltimore Sun Editorial, 3/20/12]

DESTROYS AMERICAN JOBS AND HURT ECONOMY

Ryan Plan Destroys 1.3 Million Jobs in 2013. “Paul Ryan’s latest budget doesn’t just fail to address job creation, it aggressively slows job growth. Against a current policy baseline, the budget cuts discretionary programs by about $120 billion over the next two years and mandatory programs by $284 billion, sucking demand out of the economy when it most needs it and leading to job loss. Using a standard macroeconomic model that is consistent with that used by private- and public-sector forecasters, the shock to aggregate demand from near-term spending cuts would result in roughly 1.3 million jobs lost in 2013 and 2.8 million jobs lost in 2014, or 4.1 million jobs through 2014.” [Economic Policy Institute, 3/21/12]

Ryan’s Plan Would Impede the Nation’s Economic Recovery. “These extreme cuts and changes would greatly impede the nation’s economic recovery, and hurt those on the middle and lower economic rungs who suffered most from the recession.” [New York Times Editorial, 3/20/12]