He claims that Ted Cruz's tax reform plan will increase taxes on the poor and he references this analysis by the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institute, for a very socialist viewpoint on Cruz's tax plan. So what does that report say:
In 2017, the proposal would cut taxes at every income level, but high-income taxpayers would receive the biggest cuts, both in dollar terms and as a percentage of income.This is not a tax increase for the poor as Krugman claims. Of course the poorest, who pay virtually no taxes now, will not get as big a tax reduction as will high-income taxpayers. The report does go on to make a prediction based upon a leftist view of the economy that by 2025, the lowest income quintile will be paying $116 more a year in taxes than they would under the present income tax scheme. Of course, they also assume that Cruz will not succeed in reducing the size of the government relative to the size of the economy and who knows what other assumptions based on a dismal growth of businesses and a failure to count the value of welfare payments to the poorest quintile. This economic model is likely no more sound than are the computer models that supposedly buttress the catastrophic man-made global warming hypothesis.
Krugman also seeks to discredit Paul Ryan by claiming that Ryan has said he returns over and over to read Francisco D'Anconia's Money Speech from Atlas Shrugged. According to Krugman the Money Speech is:
one of the interminable monologs in Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"A monolog less than four and a half pages long is too much for Paul Krugman's ability to focus and think. He, though supposedly an economist, has little interest in the morality of Capitalism and needs escapist novels to pander to his inability to focus and reason.
2 comments:
Many middle class folks also pay no federal income tax. Consider a retired husband and wife, both age 65+ with a $20,000 pension/IRA and $30,000 in Social Security. Very little of the SS is part of Adjusted Gross Income, and thus taxable income before deductions and exemptions. Subtract the standard deduction of $15,100 and personal exemptions of $8,000, and taxable income is zero. $50,000 income; $0 tax.
This supplements my previous post. Again assume a retired married couple, both age 65+ and $30,000 in Social Security income. But this time assume $49,000 of any combination of qualified dividends and/or long-term capital gains instead of $20,000 pension/IRA income. So that makes $79,000 gross income. Federal income tax = $0.
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