Offering tax reform ideas before his first debate with President Barack
Obama, Mitt Romney says he might be willing to reduce income tax deductions used
by millions of families for home mortgage interest and health care costs
Romney suggested the changes could be part of a plan that includes a 20
percent cut in tax rates across the board, continuation of upper income tax cuts
that Obama wants to end, and a comprehensive tax overhaul plan that the
Republican presidential contender has yet to flesh out in detail. Romney says
his overall plans would invigorate the slowly recovering U.S. economy.
Both Romney and Obama spent Tuesday mostly in private, preparing for the
debate, the president in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas, Romney already in
Denver where the faceoff will take place Wednesday at 9 p.m. Neither held public
campaign events, but Obama took a break from preparation to visit nearby Hoover
Dam, and Romney picked up lunch at a Chipotle Mexican Grill near his hotel.
In an interview Monday night with Denver TV station KDVR, Romney said, “As an
option you could say everybody’s going to get up to a $17,000 deduction. And you
could use your charitable deduction, your home mortgage deduction, or others -
your health care deduction, and you can fill that bucket, if you will, that
$17,000 bucket that way. And higher income people might have a lower
number.”
A Romney adviser said changes in other areas - a taxpayer’s personal
exemption and the deduction or credit for health care - would also be taken into
account if deductions were limited as Romney suggested. Combining changes to
those two areas with the limit on deductions would maintain Romney’s goal of
keeping tax burdens the same for wealthy and middle income taxpayers, the
adviser said. Under such a proposal, some taxpayers’ deductions could remain
unchanged.
On another controversial subject, in a separate local interview ahead of the
debate, Romney told The Denver Post that he would honor the temporary permission
the Obama administration has granted to many young illegal immigrants to allow
them to stay in the country.
Obama announced in June that he would prevent deportation for some children
brought to the United States by illegal immigrant parents. Applicants must not
have a serious criminal record and must meet other requirements, such as
graduating from high school or serving in the U.S. military.
Romney had previously refused to say if he would retain the policy if he won
the election.
He granted the interviews as he and Obama looked ahead to the debate, the
first of three they will hold before Election Day, Nov. 6.
The debates, expected to draw a huge nationwide audience, takes place with
most polls showing Obama slightly ahead both nationally and in the battleground
states expected to settle the election.
Away from Denver, the campaign pressed ahead Tuesday on TV airwaves, in
courts and in local election officials’ offices across the states.
The Romney-supporting independent group Crossroads GPS launched an $11
million, 10-day ad campaign in eight swing states. Its new ad criticizes Obama’s
assertion that unemployment would fall if Congress passed his proposed stimulus
law. The national unemployment rate still stands above 8 percent.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, a judge struck down a much-debated voter
identification law, a victory for state Democrats who argued that it would
prevent many minorities and elderly people from voting. The judge, Robert
Simpson, wrote that he was concerned by the state’s stumbling efforts to create
a photo ID that would be easily accessible to voters. Pennsylvania, while long
considered a battleground state, has backed Democrats in presidential elections
for decades, and Romney has trailed Obama in polls there.
On another voter-eligibility matter, Romney’s campaign has sent letters to
election officials in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Vermont asking that the
deadline for receiving ballots from military and overseas voters be
extended.
In Denver, in his comments on taxes, Romney also cited the tax plan included
in the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission recommendations as a possible course.
That plan calls for reducing the top income tax rates. To pay for that, the plan
would eliminate or reduce many popular tax breaks, including deductions for
charitable donations and mortgage interest.
While Romney did not commit to making any specific changes, saying he would
work with Congress, his suggestions were more specific than those he had offered
in the past and provided a new window into his thinking on the subject. In the
spring, Romney told donors that he would consider eliminating home mortgage
deductions for second homes. That conversation, behind closed doors, was
overheard by reporters standing on a private sidewalk.
The numbers are important because Romney has said that he will lower tax
rates across the board without reducing government revenue. He also says he
wants wealthy Americans to continue to shoulder the same share of the tax burden
as they do today. One way to make the numbers add up would be to adjust tax
deductions and exemptions.
Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul insisted his plan still would cut
taxes for middle income earners. “There are a range of policy options, Gov.
Romney referenced one illustrative example, to achieve these goals,” Saul said
in an emailed statement. She did not mention any other options.
Vice presidential nominees Joe Biden and Paul Ryan campaigned Tuesday in
North Carolina and Iowa, respectively. Romney’s campaign is looking to regain
ground on Obama after falling further behind in battleground state polls in the
wake of a video showing the Republican telling donors that 47 percent of
Americans believe they are victims who are entitled to government assistance. A
voter in Iowa asked Ryan about the exchange, and he acknowledged Romney’s
comments had muddied the political landscape.
“Sometimes the point doesn’t get made the right way,” he said.
Romney’s interviews with Denver outlets were the last ones planned before he
takes the stage Wednesday night. Moderator Jim Lehrer plans to focus on the
economy, health care and the role of government.
Romney’s tax plans are likely to be one focus. U.S. tax law at one time
limited tax deductions and personal exemptions for high income people, but those
limits were removed as part of the massive package of tax cuts passed under
President George W. Bush. The limits are scheduled to return next year, when the
Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire unless Congress acts in the meantime.
Romney and other Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts while Congress
works to overhaul the federal tax code. Obama wants to extend them for
individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than
$250,000.
Romney says his plan would generate the same amount of tax revenue as the
current system but do it more efficiently, without raising taxes on any group of
people. Romney also says he would not raise taxes on investment income.
The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group, says it is impossible to
reduce tax rates by 20 percent for the wealthy without shifting some of the tax
burden to middle class families. The Romney campaign disputes the study, which
has also been challenged by several conservative think
tanks. |
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