ATR Releases Presidential Candidate Tax Reform Matrix

Today, Americans for Tax Reform released a "Presidential Candidate Tax Matrix", which serves as a quick reference guide for all of the major presidential candidates' positions on taxes. According to ATR President Grover Norquist, "When taxpayers go into the voting booth to decide who the best pro-taxpayer candidate is, this guide will save time and energy." And the matrix clearly shows that Rudy Giuliani has supported the most pro-growth tax reforms of all the major presidential candidates.

Congressman Kuhl Believes Economic Stimulus Package Should Include Tax Cuts

Congressman Kuhl proves once again that he's a Taxpayer's Best Friend. From the Corning Leader:

U.S. Rep. John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr. supports some kind of congressional action to give the ailing national economy a boost.

Exactly what should be included in a stimulus package will likely be debated in weeks to come. Kuhl believes at least some of it should include tax breaks for businesses and investors.

"What we need to do is put more money in the hands of people of who invest in money or invest in creating jobs," he said.

That could also include making permanent part, or all, of President Bush's tax cuts adopted in 2001 and 2003. The tax cuts are expected to expire in 2011.

Democrats have criticized the Bush tax cuts as breaks for the wealthy. Kuhl defended them as being effective and more inclusive than Democrats portray.

"In one shape or another they can be very, very good for boosting the economy on a national basis," Kuhl said.

Kuhl said he would also favor a reduction in capital gains tax for corporations and lowering the prime lending rate.

Kuhl said he is skeptical that giving Americans one-time rebate checks of $300 to $600 would have the desired effect.

"It puts more money into the economy but that's just wealth redistribution. That doesn't create jobs, per se," he said.

Another Rudy Ad, On Taxes

ATR, Club for Growth Both Praise Rudy's Tax Cut Plan

Here's the press release on the Club for Growth's praise of Rudy's tax cut plan.

And here's the press release from Americans for Tax Reform, which also reminds voters that neither John McCain nor Fred Thompson have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge:

RUDY GIULIANI TAX CUT PLAN THE BIGGEST IN HISTORY
AND MOST PRO-GROWTH IN GOP PRESIDENTIAL FIELD

Plan would cut the capital gains tax, slash the corporate income tax, and create a simplified alternate tax system for families and small businesses

WASHINGTON, DC – Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani today released a pro-growth tax cut package. This $6.3 trillion measure is the largest tax cut of all time. It is the most pro-growth tax cut package of anyone running for President.

Giuliani’s tax plan makes all the Bush tax cuts permanent, including full repeal of the death tax. It indexes the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to inflation, and eventually repeals it. It reduces the corporate income tax from today’s 35 percent, the second-highest in the developed world, to 25 percent, more in line with our European competitors. It slashes the capital gains and qualified dividends tax rate from 15 percent to 10 percent (and indexes capital assets to inflation), which will boost the value of every American’s 401(k) and IRA. It replaces the
current hodgepodge of dozens of tax-advantaged savings accounts with a simplified system of Retirement Savings Accounts and Lifetime Savings Accounts. It gives all Americans the ability to purchase health insurance pre-tax through a health care standard deduction.

“This tax cut—the largest in history—would represent a monumental leap forward for the American taxpayer and the U.S. economy,” said ATR President Grover Norquist. “In particular, cutting the corporate income tax and the capital gains tax is just what is needed to keep us from falling into recession.”

In addition, the Giuliani tax cut plan creates an alternate “Fair And Simple Tax (FAST)” system that American families and small businesses could choose to go into each year, with a three-bracket structure, a 30 percent top rate, and only the most popular deductions in place.

“Most Americans, when given the choice to go into this simplified system, will flock toward it and never switch back,” continued Norquist. “Hong Kong has had an alternate tax system for years and the vast majority of residents use it happily.”

In addition to his tax cut proposal, Giuliani has committed in writing to the American people to oppose and veto all tax increases. This pledge has also been adopted by every other Republican presidential candidate except John McCain and Fred Thompson. It hasn’t been adopted by any Democrat presidential hopeful.

IRRESPONSIBLE: Democrats Prepare to Sock 23 Million Middle-Class Americans with Massive Tax Hike

From The Hill:

Hoyer says Congress may not be able to patch AMT

By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 12/18/07 12:06 PM [ET]

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted Tuesday that Congress may not be able to stop a big tax increase from hitting 23 million Americans.

Hoyer, pressed on whether Congress would resolve disputes over the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), said, "Maybe."

His remark came as a surprise, since it has widely been assumed that Democrats will give up their effort to "pay for" the AMT patch and go with the Senate plan to load the cost onto the deficit.

Hoyer's statement came the morning after nearly 30 conservative Blue Dog Democrats signaled their discontent with the Senate AMT plan by voting with Republicans against an adjournment resolution.

Hoyer was asked about efforts to resolve the dispute. He said he had come to the 11 a.m. briefing directly from the meeting to resolve the impasse and did not know the "state of play on AMT."

"There's no deal" with the Blue Dogs, he said.

An AMT patch must be passed soon to avoid a big tax hike. By waiting as long as they have, lawmakers have already raised the risk of a tax-filing mess that could provide fodder for political attacks. The IRS says it needs seven weeks from the time the president signs the AMT patch into law to update its forms and re-program its computers.

Kuhl Votes Against Tax Increase

As I reported previously, the Senate passed an AMT patch that would not include a tax increase, and Congressman Kuhl applauded this action. However, the Dems in the House were still trying to push through an AMT patch with a tax increase, which Congressman Kuhl voted against, keeping his status as a Taxpayer's Best Friend. From the Hornell Evening Tribune:

U.S. Rep. John "Randy" Kuhl, R-29, is in favor of the [AMT] fix, but voted against a bill passed by the House Wednesday to do just that, because he said it increased taxes to make up the gap.

"The Senate passed a bill last week that would index the AMT without any tax increases in it," he said Thursday morning, during his weekly telephone press conference call. "The House majority has not taken the same position, as a result of the adoption of the 'paygo' rule, it's meant, in my estimation, to give the majority the ability to raise taxes under the guise of pay as you go. The House fix included tax increases, which I did not support, because I don't believe you need to put permanent increases in to take care of a temporary problem.

"They say that we cannot index this issue without having taxes make up for the loss of revenue," Kuhl added. "That's the stalemate we've had."

Massa, of course, supports the tax increase, claiming the bill will only tax "high income earners."

But here's a great column from Michael Barone on the issue (note the section in bold that counters Massa's claim):

Democrats, conscious of the popularity of some recent governors who have raised taxes (like Mark Warner of Virginia), seem on the surface unfazed by the political risks of tax increases and are preparing to argue that they'll raise taxes only on the rich. But this may be awkward at a time when the budget deficit is rapidly declining and when we face the nontrivial possibility of a recession.

A tax increase in a recession is usually not a good idea. And Republicans will say that when Democrats promise to tax the rich, they end up raising taxes on the ordinary person, as Bill Clinton and the Democratic Congress did in 1993. The Democrats' desperation to patch the AMT and their willingness to break their own paygo rule suggest that they fear the wrath of those New Jersey suburbanites more than they let on. [Emphasis added]

Kuhl: A Taxpayer's Best Friend

Two days ago, Rottenchester reported on Channel 13's hit job "in-depth story" on Congressman Kuhl's bipartisan fact-finding mission to Brazil. 13WHAM's web article posed the following question, "How much did it cost taxpayers for U.S. Representative Randy Kuhl (R, N.Y.) to spend six days in Brazil?" The figures haven't come out yet, but I can only assume that it was a few thousand dollars.

As part of my response to this story, I wanted to contrast this with the millions of dollars that Congressman Kuhl has saved average taxpayers through his votes in Congress. So, I contacted Americans for Tax Reform to get its response on Kuhl's tax record. This morning, I received the following statement from ATR President, Grover Norquist:

Randy Kuhl has pledged in writing to the people of his district that he would oppose income tax hikes. He has kept his word. On a series of tax and limited government votes, Kuhl has demonstrated real leadership. In the last Congress, he had a "Hero of the Taxpayer" voting score of 92%. [OntarioGOP Note: Kuhl's ATR rating in 2006 was 95%, and in 2005 was 88%, giving him a combined ATR score of 92% in the 109th Congress.]

Kuhl's strength in defending the taxpayers of the 29th district of New York is particularly-praiseworthy given the unrelenting opposition of Big Labor. Time and again, he has sided with taxpayers over corrupt union bosses seeking to spend taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves.

Question to Channel 13: Why do you want to investigate the cost of a few thousand dollars for a legitimate, previously disclosed trip, while ignoring the tax savings that Congressman Kuhl's constituents have received through his service?

Senate Passes AMT Patch

Finally, the Senate passed an AMT patch last night that won't raise taxes, unlike Rangel's proposal in the House. Congressman Kuhl applauded the Senate for this, and is "hopeful that the House leadership will see the movement from the Senate and bring a clean AMT patch to the floor immediately."

Massa Supports Rangel Tax Hike

Rottenchester links to Eric Massa's letter to the editor in response to Congressman Kuhl's recent editorial on Charlie Rangel's "Mother of All Tax Increases." Massa claims that "23 million American families will see their taxes cut" and that "[t]his is a bill that will provide over $50 billion in tax relief." To be sure, there are two sides to every story, and there are a few good elements in Rangel's bill, as Dr. JD Foster of the Heritage Foundation points out:

The Rangel bill is not all bad news. It also includes some excellent elements that ought not be lost in the avalanche of opposition. While the bill uses the confusion over the AMT patch and the revenue baseline as a screen for raising taxes, it also takes the excellent step of repealing the whole AMT system. This reform is long overdue. The AMT is today a tax policy without purpose, a complication without virtue. The problem with the Rangel bill is not the repeal of the AMT but the manner and extent to which the repeal is offset with other tax increases.

The Rangel bill also reduces the corporate income tax rate from the current 35 percent to 30.5 percent. The U.S. corporate tax rate hike is among the highest of the industrialized countries. It must come down significantly if American companies are to remain competitive at home or abroad. The only criticism of this portion of the bill is that the rate should come down further.

The Bad News: This bill, if enacted into law, will create a "surtax of up to 4.6% on Americans earning as little as $150,000 per year", "raise the top marginal tax rate to 47%", "raise the capital gains tax rate to 24.6%", and "cost Americans six million jobs".

Massa claims this bill is not a tax hike and that the only consequence (in his most populist rhetoric) will be that "some Wall Street multi-millionaires [will have] to pay more of their fair share," despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Several proposals have been introduced by Republicans to either patch the AMT or repeal it without raising taxes or costing American jobs. Yet Massa shamelessly continues to support a tax hike in the guise of a tax cut.

Kuhl Editorial on Taxes

From today's Corning Leader:

Dems Delaying Tax Refunds for 50 Million Americans

From Congressman Kuhl:

[T]oday is the day that the Internal Revenue Service tax forms are going to be printed under the assumption that some 23 million taxpayers would be forced to pay an AMT tax next year they have never had to pay before. As a result, as many as 50 million taxpayers could see a significant delay in the arrival of some $75 billion in refund checks.

You can read more about this issue here.

130% Tax Increase

Even House Democrats Shocked by Phase One of
House Democrats’ “Mother of All Tax Hikes”

Broken Promise
QUESTION: "If Democrats do take back control of Congress, how concerned should the average American be about a possible increase in his or her taxes?"

Then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): "Not at all. Democrats are talking about ... fiscal responsibility." (Press Conference, 7/28/06)

Sheer Panic

"With some vulnerable Democrats facing a difficult tax vote this week, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois has raised the prospect of taking up the alternative minimum tax patch without provisions that would raise other taxes to make up for the lost revenues."

"Why should House members have to walk the plank?" asked Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. "This is a 130-percent tax increase..."

"'It's a very dangerous situation that puts some members on the spot,' one Democratic lawmaker said of Rangel's bill."

(CongressDaily AM, 11/7/07)

So the Dems want to raise our taxes...

Well blow me over with a feather! I'd like to thank Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-Obviously) for promoting "the largest individual income tax increase in history."

You know, this reminds me of a skit Saturday Night Live did a few years ago called, "What Were You Thinking?," mocking Walter Mondale's famous pledge to raise taxes, which ultimately lost him the presidency:

Q: Now Mr. Mondale, you ran for president on a platform of... raising taxes.
Mondale: I know, I know.
Q: Now historically successful candidates have always pledged to... lower taxes.
Mondale: I know, I know...
Q: What were you thinking?
Mondale: I don't know.