The Tax Policy Center in DC has released numbers Rick Santorum’s tax plan — the latest, and perhaps final, in a series of analyses of the leading GOP contenders’ tax plans.
It’s a variation on the theme underlying all of the Republicans’ tax proposals — its impact on the middle class is trivial compared to the massive tax cut it proposes for the wealthiest Americans.
That’s compared to taxes Americans are currently paying. The numbers are starker if you assume that all of the temporary Bush tax provisions, and the payroll tax cut, expire at the end of the year.
As TPC notes, the plan, like all the others, would blow an enormous hole in the federal budget. “The Santorum plan would reduce federal tax revenues substantially. TPC estimates that on a static basis, the Santorum plan would lower federal tax liability by about $1.3 trillion in calendar year 2015 compared with current law, roughly a 40 percent cut in total projected revenue. Relative to a current policy baseline, the reduction in liability would be about $900 billion in calendar year 2015.”
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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