Obama's Favorite Republican

Paul Ryan’s Tax-Raising, Budget-Busting Wealth Transfer Of A Plan:

I’ve watched the White House elevate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as a serious man of ideas with real substance over the last couple months. The media has picked up on this and anointed him “Barack Obama’s favorite Republican.” This undercuts any effort to tell the real story about Ryan’s ideas for the federal budget, which would involve serious hardship for everyone but the rich, and an unbalanced budget, in the end.

First, the tax changes:

But how much would it cut taxes on the rich? Citizens for Tax Justice has run the numbers and the answer is: a lot. The very richest of the rich would see their tax bills go down by an average of over $200,000, a whopping 15% of the income. Ka-ching! To make up for that, everyone with an income under $100,000 would have their taxes increased by about $2,000 per year.

It’s a sweet deal for the rich. But even with all the tax increases on the middle class, Ryan’s plan still raises less revenue than today’s tax code. “It’s difficult to design a tax plan that will lose $2 trillion over a decade even while requiring 90 percent of taxpayers to pay more,” says CTJ acerbically. “But Congressman Ryan has met that daunting challenge.”

Paul Ryan’s budget would raise taxes for 90% of Americans, lower revenues by $2 trillion dollars and not balance the budget. And he’s seen as the “idea man” in the Republican caucus!

......http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/03/10/paul-ryans-tax-raising-budget-busting-wealth-transfer-of-a-plan/