PRESS RELEASES from Romney for
President
|
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
|
CONTACT: Romney Press Office
|
|
February 22, 2012
|
|
RESTORE AMERICA’S
PROMISE
More Jobs, Less
Debt, Smaller Government
Boston, MA – Increasing
economic growth, employment, and incomes is a cornerstone of Mitt
Romney’s policy agenda. Faster growth creates the jobs and generates
the incomes to fund the aspirations of American families, the
opportunities of American businesses, and the priorities of America as
a nation.
In
September 2011, Romney introduced the most detailed plan for economic
growth and job creation of any presidential candidate. Two
months
later, Romney proposed groundbreaking reforms to cut spending, move the
nation toward a balanced budget, and strengthen both Medicare and
Social Security.
Today,
Romney expands on his existing plans to restore America’s promise by
introducing a bold, pro-growth proposal to cut taxes. This
proposal
for fundamental tax reform cuts marginal rates by twenty percent for
individuals, broadens the tax base, and simplifies the code. When
considered as a whole, Romney’s policy prescriptions will jumpstart job
creation, address the debt crisis, and make the federal government
smaller, simpler, and smarter.
“America
is not seeing robust economic growth because such growth is impossible
in the policy environment created by President Obama,” said Romney.
“Rapidly rising federal spending and debt threatens our economic
future, and the President has responded by proposing the largest tax
increase in history. The result will only be less growth, fewer jobs,
and more of the uncertainty that leads U.S. business leaders to sit on
cash rather than put it to work.”
Addressing
this problem requires that America turn away from the Obama
administration’s unprecedented increases in taxes, spending, and debt.
Instead, government spending must be tamed, and the tax system must be
reformed to create jobs and increase wages, while still raising the
revenue needed for the nation’s priorities.
“The
right way forward is a flatter, fairer, simpler tax system that
generates the revenue we need to fund a smaller government that is
restrained to its historical size,” said Romney. “My plan sends signals
of stability to business leaders and investors around the world,
conveys a process for accomplishing these goals, and draws on my
leadership skills and real-world experience to integrate and implement
a comprehensive economic policy.”
Romney presented the details of his plan:
Mitt
Romney’s Bold, Pro-Growth Tax Cut Proposal
Reducing
and stabilizing federal spending is essential, but breathing life into
the present anemic recovery will also require fixing the nation’s tax
code to focus on jobs and growth. To repair the nation’s tax code,
marginal rates must be brought down to stimulate entrepreneurship, job
creation, and investment, while still raising the revenue needed to
fund a smaller, smarter, simpler government. The principle of fairness
must be preserved in federal tax and spending policy.
Part One:
Jumpstart Pro-Growth Changes In Individual Taxation
America’s
individual tax code applies relatively high marginal tax rates on a
narrow tax base. Those high rates discourage work and entrepreneurship,
as well as savings and investment. With 54 percent of private sector
workers employed outside of corporations, individual rates also define
the incentives for job-creating businesses. Lower marginal tax rates
secure for all Americans the economic gains from tax reform.
·Make Permanent,
Across-The-Board 20 Percent Cut In Marginal Rates.
This bold stroke reduces the tax on the next dollar of income
earned
for all taxpayers. The new top rate of 28 percent returns to the top
rate signed by President Reagan in 1986.
o
Pro-Growth.
These tax cuts – relative to President Obama’s proposal to raise
the
tax rates on the most successful business owners – will increase wages
in non-corporate businesses by 6 percent, increase investment by 10
percent, and increase business receipts by 16 percent. (Robert Carroll
et al., “Income Taxes and Entrepreneurs’ Use of Labor,”
Journal Of
Labor Economics, 4/2000; Robert Carroll et al., “Entrepreneurs,
Income Taxes, and Investment,” in Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic
Consequences Of Taxing The Rich, 2002; Robert Carroll et al., “Personal
Income Taxes and the Growth of Small Firms,”
Tax Policy And
The Economy, 2001)
o
Fiscally
Responsible. Government
cannot continue to increase irresponsibly the size of annual deficits.
Stronger economic growth and reductions in spending will help to ensure
that these tax cuts do not expand deficits. In addition,
higher-income
Americans in particular will see limits placed on deductions,
exemptions, and credits that are currently available. The result
will
be a pro-growth tax code that still raises the necessary revenue,
retains the existing progressivity, and ensures that middle-income
Americans see real tax relief.
o
Environment For Job
Creation.
President Obama has presided over endless debates about temporary tax
provisions that have consumed Washington and left businesses and
workers uncertain of what they will owe the government. The tax
system
must not only be flatter, fairer, and simpler, but also stable.
Returning policy certainty to pre-Obama levels could create 2.5 million
additional jobs in less than two years. (Scott R. Baker et al.,
“Policy Uncertainty Is Choking Recovery,”
Bloomberg News, 10/5/11)
·Promote Savings And Investment
For The American People. Mitt
Romney will maintain the current 15 percent rate on income from
qualified dividends and capital gains. He will cut taxes further
on
lower- and middle-income Americans by ensuring that families with an
annual income below $200,000 will pay no taxes on income from capital
gains, interest, and qualified dividends. These low tax rates
will
create powerful incentives for Americans to save and invest, while
spurring business investment and economic growth.
o Compare President Obama.
The President’s proposal raises dividend tax rates from 15 percent to
more than 43 percent and capital gains tax rates from 15 percent to
almost 24 percent with adverse effects on Americans’ equity investments
and on business investment.
·Abolish The Death Tax.
Eliminating the death tax will allow families to pass assets
between
generations without complicated tax avoidance schemes and without
breaking up family businesses.
o Compare President Obama. Under
Obama, the death tax is slated to rise from 35 percent to 55 percent in
2013.
·Repeal The Alternative Minimum
Tax (AMT).
The AMT was originally implemented in the 1970s with the purpose
of
ensuring that the wealthiest of Americans could not artificially reduce
their tax burden. But if Congress fails to pass the annual AMT patch,
many middle-income Americans will become ensnared in the AMT trap. It
should be repealed immediately to eliminate harmful distortions in the
tax code, and replaced with a simpler tax system that reduces tax
avoidance schemes.
Part Two:
Make The Corporate Tax System Globally Competitive
The
U.S. economy’s 35 percent corporate tax rate is among the highest in
the industrial world, reducing the ability of our nation’s businesses
to compete in the global economy and to invest and create jobs at home.
By limiting investment and growth, the high rate of corporate tax also
hurts U.S. wages.
·Cut The Corporate Rate To 25
Percent.
It is vital that the U.S. move to quickly reduce the corporate
tax rate
and put American companies on a level playing field. The high U.S.
corporate tax rate handicaps the nation’s overall economy in
competition with the rest of the world.
o
Pro-Growth.
High corporate income taxes have been shown to have a particularly high
negative effect on GDP and economic growth rates. Reducing the
corporate tax rate will not only create jobs, but also boost
wages. A
10 percent rate cut raises wages by an estimated 9 percent. (Scott A.
Hodge, “Ten Benefits of Cutting the Corporate Tax Rate,”
Tax
Foundation, 5/2011)
o
Fiscally Responsible.
Broadening the corporate tax base, accompanied by greater revenue from
increased economic activity and greater corporate investment in the
U.S., will cover the cost of the reduction in the corporate tax rate.
·Strengthen And Make Permanent
The R&D Tax Credit.
This credit promotes innovation in both manufacturing and
non-manufacturing industries, and helps businesses plan their
innovation spending. With a strong, permanent credit, companies
will
now be able to invest for the future with confidence.
·Switch To A Territorial Tax
System. The
United States taxes income on a worldwide basis, regardless of where it
is earned. This worldwide system of taxation sets the U.S. apart from
most other OECD countries, which have converted to territorial systems
of taxation. Japan and the United Kingdom are two countries that
recently traded their worldwide tax systems for territorial
systems.
This switch will promote U.S. interests in two key ways:
o Encourages Domestic Investment Of Foreign
Profits. The
U.S. system of worldwide taxation (particularly when coupled with the
U.S.'s high corporate rate) has the perverse effect of making
reinvestments of foreign profits in the U.S. more costly than
reinvestments made abroad. A territorial system will avoid the
threat
of further taxation from precluding a decision to reinvest profits at
home.
o Makes U.S. Companies
More Competitive In The World Market. The
worldwide system burdens the foreign operations of U.S. companies with
an added layer of tax not borne by their foreign competitors that are
headquartered in the local markets or in other countries with
territorial tax systems. This second layer of tax makes U.S. companies
less competitive in foreign markets. A territorial system that helps
U.S. companies compete in foreign markets will create jobs in the U.S.
as well.
·Repeal The Corporate
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
One major drawback of the Corporate AMT is its effect of penalizing
companies that invest in capital equipment. A growing economy depends
on robust capital investment. Unfortunately, corporations that are
subject to the Corporate AMT are unfairly hit by strict depreciation
rules. Due to this chilling effect on capital investment, the corporate
AMT must be fully repealed. Investment will no longer be penalized,
spurring labor productivity, an increase in American incomes, and
greater economic prosperity.
Mitt
Romney’s Fiscal Policy Proposals
As
he announced in his fiscal plan last November, Romney is committed to
reducing federal spending to 20 percent of GDP by 2016 while reversing
President Obama’s dangerous cuts to national defense. Achieving
this
goal will require spending cuts of approximately $500 billion. The
result will be to return government’s share of what this nation
produces to the level pre-dating the financial crisis and the rapid
escalation of spending under President Obama. Specifically, the plan:
·Cuts Programs That America
Cannot Afford. The first step in this direction is to
repeal Obamacare.
·Sends To The States Programs
That They Can Implement Better. For instance, block-grant
Medicaid.
·Improves Efficiency And
Effectiveness. What the government needs to do, it should
do more effectively.
Looking
ahead to yawning future deficits from the unfunded promises of Social
Security and Medicare that threaten the nation’s solvency and
foreshadow growth-destroying tax hikes, Romney proposes to shore up
these important programs without impacting seniors who are at or near
retirement, and without tax hikes.
·Social Security.
For younger generations, gradually raise the retirement age and index
the growth in benefits for higher-income retirees to inflation instead
of wages.
·Medicare.
For younger generations, create a premium support system that
gives
each senior the freedom to choose among competing private plans and
traditional fee-for-service Medicare.
If
America goes down the road proposed by the President, it will
eventually face crippling tax increases that destroy jobs and stifle
economic growth. Only Governor Romney has proposed a
comprehensive
plan to Restore America’s Promise with More Jobs, Less Debt, and
Smaller Government.
###
ECONOMISTS & BUSINESS AND POLITICAL
LEADERS AGREE: ROMNEY’S PRO-GROWTH PLAN IS BOLD
Boston, MA – Economists
and political and business leaders today made the following statements
on Mitt Romney’s bold pro-growth economic plan:
Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia
University School of Business:
“Once again, Mitt Romney has demonstrated he understands the need to
promote economic growth, jobs, and wages. Cutting business taxes and
marginal tax rates across the board is a key step. Coupled with his
spending plan to rein in both the federal government’s claim on GDP and
debt, this tax plan is bold and pro-growth. These plans stand in stark
contrast to President Obama’s increase in the size of government and
his plans to raise taxes on business owners.”
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the
U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means: “In
the race for president, conservatives have a credible and comprehensive
set of policies to back. Gov. Romney’s plan will accomplish the
key
conservative objectives of cutting tax rates to promote economic growth
and job creation, while keeping us on a path to a balanced
budget.
Other candidates talk about the problems, but their numbers just don’t
add up. The simple fact is Governor Romney is the only candidate
who
has put forward the bold plans necessary to both get Americans back to
work through comprehensive tax reform while cutting spending in
Washington to reduce our debt and deficits.”
Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants,
Inc.:
“Having spent my life in business, I know that America needs a
president who understands the relationship between taxes and job
creation. Mitt Romney’s economic reform proposals show that he
has
thought deeply about the problems we’re facing and is willing to make
tough decisions to fix them. His plan is a conservative dream come
true. Actually, it’s an American dream come true. It will put the
country on a path to lower tax rates and job creation without
ballooning the deficit. Indeed, it will move us toward a balanced
budget.”
Thomas Stemberg, Managing General
Partner at Highland Consumer Fund and Founder of Staples, Inc.:
“I worked closely with Mitt in founding Staples and I saw the kind of
cloth he’s cut from. The excellence of his economic and tax reform plan
does not surprise me in the least. Mitt understands better than
almost
anyone the harmful impact of our convoluted tax system on job creation.
And he’s found a way to lower marginal rates without adding to the
extraordinary deficits Barack Obama has saddled the country with.
Indeed, Mitt is putting us on the path to a balanced budget even as he
overhauls the tax code.”
Gary Wolfram, William E. Simon
Professor in Economics and Public Policy at Hillsdale College:
“Economics may be the dismal science, but Mitt Romney’s economic reform
plan gives even economists reason to be cheerful. At last, we have a
presidential candidate who is serious about cutting marginal rates
while also facing up to the need to balance the budget. If this plan is
put into action, the effects on economic growth and job creation are
likely to be substantial.”
Al Hubbard, Former Director of the
National Economic Council: “Mitt
Romney’s bold plan will immediately restart America’s economic engine,
grow our economy, and put people back to work. It is a comprehensive,
pro-growth, fiscally responsible plan that will make the United States
economically competitive by lowering tax rates and reforming the tax
code. More so than any other candidate, Mitt Romney offers a plan that
is realistic, responsible, and America’s best opportunity to get our
economy back on track.”
###
|
For
Immediate Release
February 23, 2012
|
|
A Tax Reform to Restore America's Prosperity
When generations of immigrants looked up and saw the Statue of
Liberty for the first time, they surely had many questions and doubts
about the life before them. Yet one thing they knew without a doubt—in
America anything was possible, and their children would have a better
life.
That deep confidence in a better tomorrow is the basic promise of
America. Today that promise is threatened by a faltering economy and a
lack of presidential leadership.
We have record-breaking unemployment and deficit spending, and a tax
code that looks like it was devised by our worst enemy to tie us in
knots. These three afflictions are interconnected. I have a plan to
address them and achieve three goals: more jobs, less debt, and smaller
government.
My plan is conservative in a way that stands out not only from
President Obama's failed approach of higher taxes and runaway deficit
spending, but also from the say-anything-to-get-elected fiscal
recklessness of some of my Republican rivals. Offering gimmicky
proposals that rely on implausible levels of economic growth and blow
huge holes in the budget is easy. Fixing our very serious problems is
not.
I am prepared to make the difficult decisions our nation needs. I
favor deep cuts in federal spending, and I've previously outlined
exactly where I would cut and how I would reform entitlements to
strengthen them for future generations. But we can't look at spending
in isolation.
I believe we must make the tax code simpler and fairer. We must
reduce tax rates for job creators to promote economic growth. And we
must still raise enough revenue to stop the endless borrowing that
threatens American prosperity.
First, I will make an across-the-board, 20% reduction in marginal
individual income tax rates. This bold stroke reduces the tax on the
next dollar of income earned by all taxpayers. It also reduces tax
rates for the many businesses that pay at individual rates and employ
the majority of private-sector American workers, thus driving
significant increases in hiring and wages.
Second, I will reduce the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%,
transition from a world-wide taxation system to a territorial one, and
make the R&D tax credit permanent. These steps will unleash
significant domestic investment, attract more foreign investment, and
make the U.S. economy competitive with others around the globe. They
will not only spur significant job creation, but also raise wages for
American workers.
Third, I will promote savings and investment by maintaining the low
15% rate on capital gains, interest and qualified dividends, and
eliminate the tax entirely for those with annual income below $200,000.
These low tax rates will create powerful incentives for Americans to
save and invest, while encouraging business investment and economic
growth.
Fourth, I will take long overdue steps to correct failures in the
tax code. I will abolish the death tax, whose primary effect today is
to foster elaborate schemes for transferring wealth. I will also repeal
the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was intended to make the code
simpler and fairer but has accomplished precisely the opposite.
Fifth, I will bring stability to the tax code by making these
changes permanent. People and businesses should not live in perpetual
uncertainty, waiting to see what changes the annual partisan battles in
Washington will make to what they owe. One recent study estimated that
simply returning policy certainty to pre-Obama levels could create 2.5
million jobs in less than two years.
Stronger economic growth and reductions in spending will help to
ensure that these tax cuts do not expand deficits. In addition, I will
place some curbs on personal tax deductions, exemptions and credits,
and I will also broaden the corporate tax base.
Higher-income Americans who receive the greatest benefit from rate
cuts will see the most significant limits. Middle-income Americans will
continue to enjoy tax benefits that favor important priorities such as
home ownership, charitable giving, health care, and savings. The result
will be a pro-growth tax code that still raises the necessary revenue,
retains the existing progressivity, and ensures that middle-income
Americans will see real tax relief.
More jobs, less debt, smaller government. That is the goal America
must reach if we are to restore its promise. Getting there requires
that we replace President Obama, who has gone in the opposite direction
with a stagnant economy, trillion-dollar deficits, and a proposal for
the largest tax increase in history. But let's not replace the
president's profligacy with pie-in-the-sky proposals that saddle future
generations of Americans with heavy burdens.
The plan I am proposing is far-reaching yet realistic. It will bring
us a federal government that does what it needs to, that lives within
its means, and that uses pro-growth tax policy to raise necessary funds
and not a dollar more.
PRESS RELEASE from
Newt 2012
February 24, 2012
10 Questions for Mitt
Romney On His Tax Plan
With Governor Romney set to unveil a tax cut plan a full 9 months into
his presidential bid (Note: Gingrich unveiled his plan the first week of his
candidacy), Newt 2012 released the following 10 questions for the
Governor:
10 Questions for Mitt Romney On His
Tax Plan
- As
candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, you pledged not to raise
taxes, but in office you raised taxes and fees in an amount over $700
million. Why should voters trust you as President to keep your
pledge
to cut taxes when as Governor you failed to keep your pledge
not to raise taxes? (Background: Romney Broke His Pledge Not To Raise Taxes, Romney Broke His Pledge Not to Raise Gas Taxes)
- You
said earlier in the campaign that cutting taxes on top income
earners was politically suicidal (we will “get our head handed to us
politically”). Do you now believe that it is no longer suicidal
politically to stand for broad based tax cuts? If yes, what caused you
to change your mind about the politics of broad based tax relief?
(Background: Audio of Tea Party Patriots Townhall 12/20/11)
- Why
this tax reform package now? Why not before the voting began in
Iowa? Is this an admission that your campaign was failing to
capture
the imagination of conservatives and was in danger of standing for
nothing more than your portfolio manager background and your self
proclaimed sills as a business manager?
- Do
you think given your personal background as a tremendously wealthy
individual that you could be effective in promoting tax reform and
reduced tax rates for everyone? You seemed to suggest previously
that
you did not think so. Why the change now?
- You
support lowering the corporate tax rate, but at the same time you
want to eliminate a variety of current corporate deductions and
exemptions. Why? How will you decided which corporations have
their
deductions and exemptions eliminated? Will you have an overall
net
lowering of taxes on corporations as a result of your plan?
- Why
do you keep using the Occupy Wall Street rhetoric of the 1% versus the
99%? Do you think they have a good point?
- Will
your tax cut plan be revenue neutral? If so, what offsets will
you propose to raise revenue to offset the revenue losses from the cuts?
- Have
you also changed your mind about a value added tax (VAT)? Or are
you still considering a VAT to finance government spending and balance
the budget?
- Does
your economic recovery plan include anything about monetary
policy? Or are you happy with Ben Bernanke? Or do you think monetary
policy is not important? If elected, would you reappoint Bernanke?
- Will
you support a Gold Commission to explore returning to a gold
standard? Or do you think this is not important?
###
R.C. Hammond
Press Secretary