Romney's Puzzling Math
Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign rally at the Tri-City Christian Academy on February 22, 2012 in Chandler, Arizona (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Here's what I don't get.
Mitt Romney claims that his new proposal to reduce the top rate of federal personal income tax to 28% will not benefit the top 1%.
I’m going to limit the deductions and exemptions particularly for the higher-income folks. For high-income folks, we’re going to cut back on that, so that we ensure that the top 1 percent keeps paying the current share they’re paying and more.
How does the math on this remotely work?
Yes, I can imagine that a scale-back in the deductions for state and local taxes or mortgage interest might conceivably balance the value of the tax cut for a family at the lower edge of the top 1%. But what possible change in the deduction schedule could offset the value of a 7 point tax cut for somebody earning more than $1 million, much less more than $10 million?
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David Frum
David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor. He is the author of seven books, including most recently, his first novel Patriots published in April 2012.
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