FACT CHECK: Romney’s Plan For The Middle Class Is A Tax Hike And Turning Medicare Into Vouchers
Senator Rob Portman said that Mitt Romney has a plan for the middle class. He’s right. Romney’s plan is to raise taxes on middle class families with kids by an average of $2,000 and turn Medicare into a voucher system, all to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. It’s the same failed economic philosophy that crashed the economy and devastated the middle class in the first place – policies that Senator Portman helped put in place.
ROMNEY-RYAN WOULD RAISE TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS TO PAY FOR $5 TRILLION IN NEW TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY ON TOP OF THE BUSH TAX CUTS
Reuters Headline: “Romney Tax Plan Helps Rich, Hurts Middle Class-Study.” [Reuters, 8/1/12]
Boston Globe Headline: “Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan Would Offer Big Cuts To Millionaires, Raise Taxes On Middle Class, Brookings Analysts Say.” [Boston Globe, 8/1/12]
Washington Post Editorial: The Tax Policy Center Found That Under The Romney Plan “Even If Every Loophole For The Top Brackets Were Closed, There Wouldn’t Be Enough Revenue. The Middle Class Would Have To Pay More.” “The Tax Policy Center (TPC), a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, examined Mr. Romney’s claim and found that, even if every loophole for the top brackets were closed, there wouldn’t be enough revenue. The middle class would have to pay more.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 8/21/12]
Center On Budget And Policy Priorities: Romney’s New Tax Cuts Would Cost $4.9 Trillion Over A Decade, On Top Of The Cost Of Extending The Bush Tax Cuts. “The Tax Policy Center estimates that the Romney tax plan would lose about $480 billion in tax revenue in calendar year 2015, beyond the revenues losses inherent in maintaining current policy (such as continuing all of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts). Over the 2014-2022 period, that implies a total reduction in revenues of about $4.9 trillion, relative to current tax policy.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/21/12]
THE ROMNEY-RYAN PLAN WOULD END MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT – TURNING IT INTO A VOUCHER SYSTEM…
Romney: “Paul Ryan And My Plan For Medicare I Think Is The Same, If Not Identical It's Probably Close To Identical.” [WBAY (Green Bay, WI), 8/15/12]
New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait: President Obama’s Argument That Romney Would “End Medicare As We Know It” Is “Undeniably True.” “Today President Obama talks Medicare in Florida and argues that Mitt Romney will ‘end Medicare as we know it.’ The claim is undeniably true, though keep in mind that ‘as we know it’ is a fairly elastic term.” [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, 7/19/12]
Romney Adviser Tara Wall Said Romney And Ryan “Are Certainly 100% On The Same Page And On The Same Path Relative To Saying That We Have To Reform Medicare, Offering Options Like Vouchers.” [CNN Newsroom, CNN, 8/14/12]
Bloomberg: “Ryan’s Budget Bill Also Would End Traditional Medicare By Capping Spending And Offer Vouchers To Buy Private Insurance.” [Bloomberg, 8/13/12]
Romney’s Medicare Plan: “Medicare Is Reformed As A Premium Support System, Meaning That Existing Spending Is Repackaged As A Fixed-Amount Benefit To Each Senior That He Or She Can Use To Purchase An Insurance Plan.” [Romney Press Release, Spending Plan – “Cut The Spending,” 11/4/11]
Reuters: “Ryan's Plan Calls For An End To The Guaranteed Benefit In Medicare And Replaces It With A System That Would Give Vouchers To Recipients To Pay For Health Insurance.” [Reuters, 8/12/12]
…WHICH WOULD SHIFT MORE COSTS ON TO SENIORS AND RAISE THE COST OF TRADITIONAL MEDICARE
Los Angeles Times Headline: “Seniors Would Pay The Price Of Ryan’s Plan To Overhaul Medicare.” [Los Angeles Times, 8/13/12]
Los Angeles Times: Under The Ryan Budget “Seniors Would End Up Paying Almost Twice As Much Out Of Their Own Pockets.” [Los Angeles Times, 4/7/11]
New York Times Editorial: Ryan’s Plan Would Turn Medicare Into A Voucher System And “Would Leave Older Americans On Average With $6,400 In Extra Costs By 2022, According To The Congressional Budget Office.” “Most voters know little about Mr. Ryan. Those who have heard of him are probably most familiar with his Medicare plan, which would turn the program into a voucher system that would pay beneficiaries a fixed amount for their medical care, leaving them on their own if the voucher did not cover their costs. This notion so alarmed the public last year that Mr. Ryan was forced to backtrack and leave the existing Medicare system as an option. Even so, the plan would leave older Americans on average with $6,400 in extra costs by 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.” [Editorial, New York Times, 8/13/12]
New York Times Editorial: Ryan’s Plan “Could Lead To Higher Costs And Premiums In Traditional Medicare.” “Unfortunately, that could lead to higher costs and premiums in traditional Medicare because it would attract older and sicker patients who would be expensive to cover, while healthier, cheaper patients flocked to private plans. In the long run, the premium support plan could shift costs to beneficiaries because it would limit annual per capita spending growth to well below the level required by the health care reform act.” [Editorial, New York Times, 3/20/12]
PORTMAN HAILED BUSH’S TOP-DOWN ECONOMIC POLICIES
Portman: Bush Trade, Tax Policies Have Been Good For Ohio. In January of 2008, Portman told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Ohio has benefited from George W. Bush’s tax and trade policies. Portman explained, “The economy here has been relatively strong since the Bush tax cuts. Our exports are up because the Bush administration has opened up trade opportunities.” [Cincinnati Enquirer, 1/28/08]
Portman Hailed Benefits For “Every American” In The Bush Tax Cuts. Portman: “Thankfully, Americans will not have to hand over quite as much of their paychecks to Uncle Sam because of the tax cuts that benefited every American who pays federal income taxes. The President’s tax relief also helped spur economic growth, including nearly eight million new jobs since August 2003, fourteen straight quarters of increased business investment, a historically low unemployment rate and most importantly, rising wages.” [OMB Press Release, 4/17/07]
Portman: Bush Tax Cuts Got The Economy On Track. Portman: “The president's tax relief from 2001 to 2003 has worked well to get this economy on track. There's an amazing correlation between the full implementation of the tax cuts in 2003 and the growth in our economy, the growth in jobs, the growth in productivity.” [PBS, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, 2/6/07]
Portman Called for Making Tax Cuts Permanent; Claimed Tax Cuts Help Reduce Deficit. Portman: “Tax relief has worked, and we must make it permanent to avoid a tax increase that will threaten this continued prosperity. The growth that comes with tax relief, of course, also helps us reduce the deficit.” [OMB Press Release, 6/02/06]
THE BUSH TAX CUTS THAT FAVORED THE WEALTHIEST ADDED $3 TRILLION TO THE DEFICIT
Fifty Nine Percent Of The Shift From Surplus To Deficit By 2011 Is Directly Attributable To Bush Administration Policies, While Only 12 Percent Is Attributable To Obama Administration Policies. According to the Department of Treasury, in January 2001, CBO projected cumulative surpluses would total $5.9 trillion through 2011. Instead, cumulative deficits have totaled $6 trillion. A U.S. treasury analysis based on CBO data shows that fifty-nine percent of the shift from surpluses to deficits is attributable to Bush administration policies including Bush-era tax cuts, the wars in Iran and Afghanistan, changes to Medicare Part D, and other spending. Twenty nine percent of the shift from surpluses to deficits is attributable to conditions unrelated to legislation, including updated economic and demographic projections. Twelve percent is attributable to Obama administration policies, including the Recovery Act, the December 2010 tax law, and other spending and tax cuts. [U.S. Department Of Treasury, 2/19/12]
According To The Department Of Treasury, Bush-Era Tax Cuts Added $3 Trillion To The Deficit Through 2011. [U.S. Department Of Treasury, 2/19/12]
The Bush Tax Cuts Disproportionately Benefited The Wealthy. “The Bush-era tax cuts conferred disproportionate benefits on those at the top of the earnings distribution, exacerbating a trend of widening income inequality. In 2010, the top 1% of earners (i.e., tax filers making over $645,000) received 38% of the breaks in the 2001-08 tax changes; 55% of the tax breaks went to the top 10% of earners (those making over $170,000). The top 0.1% of earners (i.e., making over $3 million) received an average tax cut of roughly $520,000, more than 450 times larger than the share received by an average middle-income family.” [Economic Policy Institute, 6/1/11]
New York Times’ Teresa Tritch: Bush-Era Tax Cuts, War Spending In Iraq And Afghanistan, And The Effects Of The Recession Largely Took The United States From Healthy Surpluses To Nine Straight Years Of Deficits. “With President Obama and Republican leaders calling for cutting the budget by trillions over the next 10 years, it is worth asking how we got here — from healthy surpluses at the end of the Clinton era, and the promise of future surpluses, to nine straight years of deficits, including the $1.3 trillion shortfall in 2010. The answer is largely the Bush-era tax cuts, war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recessions.” [Teresa Tritch, Editorial, New York Times, 7/23/11]