Summing Up Tax Policy in This Presidential Election

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Tax Analysts' Chris Bergin doesn't like what he heard from Mitt Romney yesterday:

In a taped interview, host [Meet the Press host] David Gregory repeatedly asked Romney for details of his tax plan. He ended up practically begging for just one detail – any morsel, please. He got zip, zilch, nothing. […] I can think of only one reason why Romney consistently won’t reveal the details of his tax plan. He doesn’t have any! Other than to take care of his rich friends.

And President Obama doesn't exactly get high marks either:

President Obama doesn’t care a lick about tax reform – which is his perogative, by the way. All he cares about is increasing taxes on the folks he thinks are rich – which actually includes a lot of middle-class households.

Adds up to him battling nausea:

From a tax policy standpoint, the choice we have in this upcoming presidential election makes me sick to my stomach.

So if you're looking to vote for a Presidential candidate that will champion tax reform this fall, your best bet is to take Monty Brewster's advice.

Where’s the Tax Plan, Man – Uh, Men? [Christopher Bergin]

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Those IRS Shotguns Are Seeing Some Action

When Young Buck woke up yesterday morning, he probably wasn’t expecting IRS agents armed to the teeth barging in and taking everything in sight.

But according to TMZ, that’s exactly what happened.

According to Young’s rep, IRS agents rolled up to the platinum-selling rapper’s house in Nashville this morning to go on a repossession rampage over the alleged tax debt — seizing assets like recording equipment, jewelry, furniture, his platinum wall plaques … and even his kids’ PlayStation.

Allegedly YB owes $300k in back taxes which isn’t the largest sum but it’s sizable enough. When TMZ asked Mr Buck how he got himself into such a pickle he responded, “This IRS situation came about because I trusted accountants, lawyers, and managers to handle my business for me while I focused on making music. From now on, I am going to stay on top of my own business.”

Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the music doesn’t suffer like the business did. We can’t imagine such a huge blow to the culture.

Jon Huntsman Has a Plan for Tax Reform

Unheard-of GOP Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman isn’t doing so well in the race for his party’s nomination. This is probably due to the fact that he seems like a fairly pragmatic fellow and pragmatism isn’t really something that fits in the GOP agenda. I mean, COME ON, the man believes in evolution and trusts scientists on climate change. Clearly he’s going nowhere with those kinds of policy positions.

So, in what will likely amount to another failed attempt to bring some sense to the GOP narrative, Huntsman will give a speech on tax reform and various other issues in New Hampshire.

Huntsman will lay out his plans for tax and regulatory reform, energy independence and free trade in a New Hampshire speech that’s being billed as perhaps the last best chance for Huntsman, who stands far behind the GOP frontrunners in polls, to establish himself as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. “Meeting our challenges will require serious solutions, but above all, it will require serious leadership – a quality in high demand in our nation’s capital, and among my opponents on the campaign trail,” Huntsman will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign. The centerpiece of the plan is a proposal to reform tax rates. The Huntsman plan would eliminate all loopholes, deductions and tax exemptions in exchange for establishing three individual income brackets, taxed at eight, 14 and 23 percent. The Huntsman plan would also eliminate capital gains and dividend taxes, do away with the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

Now all he has to do is mention God’s role in all of this and he’ll be the frontrunner.

Huntsman to unveil sweeping tax reform [The Hill]