Paul Ryan Goes All Deer in the Headlights When Asked About Romney’s Tax Plan

Last updated on October 1st, 2012 at 09:12 pm

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The Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan was on Fox News showing off his alleged wonk skills again. This time, Chris Wallace asked for “the math” that makes Romney’s secret tax plan work. Ryan replied, “I don’t have the – it would take me too long to go through all of the math.”

Watch here:

WALLACE: You haven’t given me the math.

(Ryan looks like deer in headlights.)

RYAN: I don’t have the … It would take me too long to go through all of the math

(Ryan regaining composure, sniffs a shot of courage through his nose for the Big Lie.)

RYAN: But let me say it this way. You can lower tax rates 20 percent across the board by closing loopholes and still have preferences for the middle class for things like charitable deductions, home purchases, for health care. What we’re saying is people are going to get lower tax rates and therefore they will not send as much money to Washington.

Of course, this is not true. “The Tax Policy Center (TPC), a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, examined Mr. Romney’s claim and found that, even if every loophole for the top brackets were closed, there wouldn’t be enough revenue. The middle class would have to pay more.”

But you already suspect that because any time someone won’t tell you the specifics but they keep promising that they can make magic happen, you have to wonder. Plus, this is the party of the unpaid for Bush tax cuts. You’d think if anyone felt obligated to explain how they weren’t repeating that fiscal failure, it would be an alleged Republican wonk. But no.

Trust us.

The Romney Ryan campaign has been “rebooting” this week with promises of specifics, only they haven’t managed to actually get specific on anything other than Lyme disease, and even that they got wrong.

Ryan is promising the American people that the non-partisan tax analysts are wrong about the Romney plan raising taxes on the middle class, but he won’t tell you why or how. He says he doesn’t have the – blank. The what? The numbers? The information? What are the odds that they haven’t even decided what deductions they’re going to cut yet? What are the odds that just like Ryan’s budget, this one doesn’t add up, and worse yet, they don’t care?

Just last week, Romney inadvertently told Ohioans the truth in an attempt to get specific that they shouldn’t “be expecting a huge cut in taxes because I’m also going to lower deductions and exemptions.” That didn’t go over well, so the Romney campaign immediately sent Paul Ryan onto Fox for some damage control.

Ryan’s magic damage control was to tell Fox viewers that Romney’s tax plan would be revenue neutral by getting rid of tax-shelters while cutting taxes for the middle class.

Right. So, see, that’s why they won’t tell you – it’s because you would LIKE IT, and they are working very hard on losing this election. Capiche?

The truth is – and I’m getting really tired of repeating these facts that even conservatives agree on, but Romney and Ryan refuse to acknowledge — Romney’s plan will raise taxes on the middle class by cutting deductions like mortgage interest, children, and charitable contributions. If you have kids, expect an average of a $2,000 a year raise in your taxes under Romney.

We all remember Paul Ryan falling apart when asked to explain the tax cuts for the rich in the Romney budget:

STEPHANOPOULOS: — many say it’s difficult –
RYAN: Go ahead, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: — to accept your word if you’re not going to specify which tax loopholes you’re willing to close. Don’t voters have a right to know which loopholes you’re going to go after?
RYAN: So Mitt Romney and I, based on our experience, think the best way to do this is to show the framework, show the outlines of these plans, and then to work with Congress to do this. That’s how you get things done. The other thing, George, is-
STEPHANOPOULOS: Isn’t that a secret plan?
RYAN: — we don’t want to — no, no. No, no. What we don’t want is a secret plan.

So, how are they going to not give you a secret plan? By giving you a secret plan!

Now, instead of telling you what you don’t want to hear, Paul Ryan is just gonna lie to you, and hope you promise to believe like all of the good Fox soldiers. He won’t give you the numbers because he doesn’t have time in this entire election season to give them to you. He is very, very busy reading Ayn Rand’s characters’ speeches about monetary policy. And anyway, didn’t you hear that if you throw enough words at people and pepper them with Reagan and tax cuts and growth, they won’t care what you’re actually saying, if indeed you are saying anything at all?

Paul Ryan might as well be Sarah Palin. He uses the English language with slightly more confidence, but if he thinks he’s fooling everyone with his high-handed wonk tone, he’s wrong. Behind the arrogant presumption that you just wouldn’t understand and he doesn’t have the time is a lost boy who can’t do the math and doesn’t even care to do the math because it’s not about a balanced budget for him or for Romney. It’s about selling a failed ideology at any cost.

According to non partisan tax analysts, the Secret Romney tax plan lowers taxes on the rich on the backs of the poor and middle class.

Sarah Jones

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