Where was tax reform at the GOP convention?
Yes, political conventions are costly anachronisms. But, with patience and time, one can learn quite a lot about a political party by watching, or reading, what the confab produces. Thus, a few thoughts about the GOP and fiscal policy as Republicans decamp from Tampa:
Mitt Romney: In last night鈥檚 , he sketched out his personal biography and delivered an effective brief on why we shouldn鈥檛 reelect President Obama. But, oddly, when it came to taxes Romney was nearly silent. And he said as much about what he would not do than what he would. A vow to not raise taxes on the middle class and a promise to reduce taxes on business was about it. Romney never mentioned tax reform, which had been a keystone issue for him earlier in the campaign.
His five-point job-creating plan included promises to achieve energy independence, enhance education and job training, reduce the deficit, enact new trade agreements, and encourage small business with lower taxes and less regulation. In this, the biggest of Romney鈥檚 campaign speeches, tax reform went the way of immigration reform. It was a non-issue.
Paul Ryan: The GOP鈥檚 vice-presidential pick is, sadly, not only running against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, he is running against himself. In his Wednesday night , Ryan was outraged that Obama cut $716 billion in future Medicare payments to hospitals and managed care companies to help fund the 2010 Affordable Care Act. 鈥淎n obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed,鈥� Ryan charged. Of course, the written by Ryan just five months ago grabbed the same $716 billion from Medicare providers to reduce the budget deficit.
Ryan also blasted Obama for doing 鈥渆xactly nothing鈥� with the 鈥渦rgent report鈥� of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the chairs of the 2010 White House fiscal commission. Ryan, a member of the panel, voted against those urgent recommendations.
The GOP platform: I know, platforms are not to be taken seriously. Yet, they represent, in many ways, the aspirations of a party鈥檚 activists. The GOP , not surprisingly, endorses the outlines of Mitt Romney鈥檚 tax reform鈥攅xtend the Bush-era tax cuts, cut marginal rates by 20 percent, repeal the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax, and eliminate taxes on investment income for low- and moderate-income households.
But it goes far beyond that.
- It would preserve special tax treatment for charities and the deduction for contributions to those organizations鈥攖he only tax preferences the platform would explicitly protect.
- It endorses a constitutional amendment requiring a super-majority congressional vote for 鈥渁ny tax increase.鈥�
- It says if Congress ever passes a value-added tax or national sales tax, it must also completely repeal the income tax.
- It explicitly rejects the idea that tax subsidies are a form of spending. This is, the platform says, an 鈥渋nsidious鈥� interpretation that 鈥渕eans that any earnings the government allows a taxpayer to keep through a deduction, exemption, or credit are equivalent to spending the same amount on some program.鈥� This view reflects the challenge Romney would face should he try to eliminate some of these subsidies to pay for his tax cuts.
The rhetoric and policy papers that came out of Romney鈥檚 convention won鈥檛 be the last word on taxes or fiscal policy. But these events are forums for candidates to make their best case for why they should be president. And, if this convention is any evidence, tax reform is no longer a major part of Mitt Romney鈥檚 argument.
