Romney/Ryan's Plan to Cut Taxes for the Rich and Decimate the Middle Class and the Poor

A Romney-Ryan presidency would mean higher taxes for the middle class, out-of-pocket health expenses for current seniors, fewer college loans and fewer health care options for young people, and the re-introduction of corporate outsourcing tax loopholes that have sent so many jobs overseas.

When we take a close look at the economic and tax agenda of Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan, we see how their policies would affect the way 99 percent of Americans live and work. The price tag includes:

■Middle-class Americans would pay more in taxes while millionaires pay less. Millionaires would receive an additional $87,000 in tax breaks under the tax plans of Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan while middle-class families would pay up to $2,200 more in health care taxes and $1,066 more in taxes on their mortgages.
■Jobs would decline across the country. Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan plan to provide extra tax incentives for corporations to outsource jobs and are pushing policy proposals to cripple the clean energy industry, jeopardizing 95,000 jobs across Florida alone.
■Drastic cuts to federal spending would shrink Florida’s middle class. The state stands to lose more than $117 billion in federal funding from 2013 through 2022, an average of more than $11.7 billion a year, from cuts to schools, law enforcement, highway repairs, job-training programs and more. These cuts would fall predominantly on middle-class and low-income families, especially cuts to education programs that would result in nearly $361 million in reduced federal support for education and job training in the state in 2013 and $834 million in 2014 alone.
■Seniors in Florida would lose health care benefits and pay more. Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan would force seniors in the state to pay at least $632 more for their prescription drugs each year. At the same time, the Romney-Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a voucher would cost current seniors at least $11,000 more out of pocket.
■Women in Florida would pay more for health care but receive less bang for their buck. Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan would once again allow insurance companies to charge women more than men while taking away preventive care from 2.5 million women in the state.
■Young adults in Florida would lose access to their families’ health insurance. Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan promise to dismantle Obamacare, which would directly result in 224,000 young adults in Florida losing the insurance they have today due to the Affordable Care Act.

The Romney-Ryan plan asks the vast majority of Americans to pay more, and then spends this revenue not on balancing the budget but rather on more tax breaks for the richest Americans.
Gov. Romney’s top direct donor would receive more than $2 billion in direct tax benefits from under the Romney-Ryan plan, while a typical police officer in Tampa earns $57,490 a year and would see their taxes increase by $1,480. These lopsided priorities are not a coincidence or a cruel joke. They are the logical extension of a trickle-down economic policy that failed under President George W. Bush but would be revived by Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan.

President Obama and Vice President Biden, in contrast, believe that economic growth comes from a strong middle class, rather than being passed down from the wealthiest. They have passed and seek greater investments in education, job-training, infrastructure development, and scientific research and development to boost our nation’s long-term economic competiveness, coupled with targeted cuts in government spending and the end of the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to bring the federal budget deficit under control.
The Republican contenders for the White House have tried to avoid details, but have nonetheless gone on the record with proposals that have enormous consequences for the economy, taxes, women’s health, health care, and energy security. THESE ARE THE FACTS.