Bill Clinton Knows Whereof He Speaks October 19, 2012October 18, 2012 Governor Romney keeps guaranteeing that if we elect him, rich folks won’t pay any less in tax than they do now. Yet if you listen closely, you’ll hear that what he’s actually saying is that they won’t pay a lower SHARE of the overall tax burden than now. What he never admits is that will pay a whole lot less TAX. Let me give you two examples. First example. Say you die and leave your child $1 billion. Right now, $450 million of that goes in tax; your kid keeps $550 million. Gov. Romney wants her to keep the full $1 billion. A $450 million tax cut. It’s just silly to think that taking away your kid’s mortgage deduction is going to make up for the $450 million. And guess what: really rich people often don’t even HAVE mortgages. They don’t need them. Gov. Romney would borrow $450 million from China to pay for this one kid’s tax cut. Or perhaps he’d pay for it by revoking 100,000 other kids’ Pell grants. Or by cutting veterans’ benefits. But however he’d pay for it, there can be no dispute: eliminating the estate tax is a tax cut for the rich. President Obama would leave the estate tax where it is: zero on the first five million, but 45% on large estates. Second example. Gov. Romney says he’s going to cut the income tax by 20% across the board. So if you pay $5 million a year — because you make $15 million a year — you’ll save $1 million. Maybe a little less, because you’ll lose your mortgage deduction (if you even bothered to take out a mortgage). Or because you’ll be taxed on the value of your health insurance benefits at work (if you even work). Or because you’ll lose the deduction you’d get for charitable deductions (encouraging you to give less). Or because you’ll lose the deduction for the state income tax you pay (if you live in a state that has one — Florida and Texas are examples of states that don’t). But it’s basically a $1 million tax cut for someone who’s doing just fine already. Gov. Romney would borrow that $1 million from China each year. Or perhaps pay for your tax cut by laying off ten or twenty meat inspectors. But however he’d pay for it, there can be no dispute: giving really rich people — like himself — a 20% income tax cut is a major tax cut for the rich. He may have persuaded himself that the richest among us will still be paying the same SHARE of the tax burden if he cuts their rates by 20% — because everyone else is paying 20% less, too. But it’s still a gigantic tax cut for the very richest among us. He’s hoping you won’t understand that. Twelve years ago a different former Republican governor – son of a different well-regarded Republican leader — ran for President on the promise that “by far the vast majority” of his proposed tax cuts would go to folks at “the BOTTOM of the economic ladder.” Not to the rich, as the Democrats were charging – to people at the bottom! It was a multi-trillion-dollar lie. Let’s not fall for Version 2.0. HOW TO AVOID THE ESTATE TAX EVEN IF MR. ROMNEY DOESN’T GET THE CHANCE TO ELIMINATE IT Here‘s how he’s eliminated it for his heirs. AT LAST: DETAILS OF ROMNEY’S TAX PLAN Sorry — I assume you’ve seen this ten times. It’s gone viral. But just in case — click here. Just takes a second. And finally . . . A WORD FROM BILL CLINTON At a rally in Parma, Ohio yesterday. In part: This guy ran Bain Capital and is a business guy, and he’s hiding his budget? That ought to tell you something. Well, he’s hiding his taxes, too, but he’s hiding his taxes in the years when he earned ordinary income. He’s given us two years when he was just running for president. And, he’s hiding whether he would have signed the Lilly Ledbetter act. He’s hiding everything. He doesn’t want you to think about him. He wants you to think, ‘Oh this economy is terrible. I’m a jobs guy.’ And as President Obama said in the debate, if I brought you a deal to Bain Capital and I said, fund my new business, I’ll give you the budget sometime in the future, just trust me on that, you wouldn’t give me one red cent, and we should not give him one vote on that. Now take four minutes to watch this part. No one makes more sense. Please: share it with your friends.