Tax Reform

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The Fairness Agenda Divides Democrats. Seriously.

April 9, 2012 | 11:00 PM

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For a brief moment it seemed that Democrats had become the organized party Will Rogers never knew, orchestrating a seamless campaign against the unfairness they see in the tax code and in support of tax reforms meant to ensure that billionaires like Warren Buffett don't pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

But as President Obama and other Democrats ramp up for a Senate vote next week on the so-called Buffett rule, the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way is rudely interrupting the unity-fest with a warning that this is the wrong way to lock down wavering independents in swing states. These crucial voters prefer hearing candidates talk about opportunity, the group said.

Just a tad off message, but perhaps an inconvenient truth.

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Presidential race

Romney's Safety Net Shift

By Ronald Brownstein

February 3, 2012 | 5:58 AM

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Among the many strange aspects of Mitt Romney's comments about the poor on CNN's Starting Point this week was his insistence that he intends to "fix" and "repair" the social safety net for low-income families. "If there are people that are falling through the cracks," Romney told reporters a few hours after his initial comments on CNN Wednesday morning, "I want to fix that."

In fact, at the heart of Romney's message throughout the primary has been his determination to retrench the safety net. His core argument against President Obama is that he is stifling the economy, and leading America dangerously away from its historic traditions by attempting to create what Romney calls "an entitlement society" modeled on Europe. "It is clear that he'll like to make us more like Europe, more like a European social welfare state," Romney insisted Monday while campaigning before an elderly audience at The Villages in Florida. Romney delivers some variation on that charge in almost all of his stump speeches and major addresses.

Romney has fleshed out that sentiment with proposals that envision significant reductions in the projected spending trajectory for federal safety net programs. He has been most specific about Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that guarantees health care for the poor (including poor seniors in long-term care.) Romney, reflecting a long-time conservative goal, has said he would end the entitlement to Medicaid and convert it into a block grant program.

No TR: The Limits of Obama's Bully Pulpit

By Ron Fournier

December 6, 2011 | 5:17 PM

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President Obama's "fair shot" address Tuesday may be remembered as one of his best, a searing and historically poignant account of the greatest challenge of the American experiment: How do we give every citizen, rich or poor, a path to the good life?

But his speech in Osawatomie, Kan., with its echoes of Theodore Roosevelt's appearance in the same city a century ago, also exposed the limits of Obama's presidency and personality. Obama is a man of his times, and this is a lousy time to command what TR called the "bully pulpit."

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Obama, Osawatomie, Roosevelt

A Taxing Choice

By Ronald Brownstein

November 4, 2011 | 7:00 AM

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In my National Journal column this week, I touch on the debate among Democrats about whether President Obama's increasingly populist message - particularly his emphasis on asking wealthy Americans to pay more in taxes, both to reduce the deficit and to fund his jobs program - risks the party's support with white-collar white voters who have become increasingly critical to its electoral coalition.

In the column, Mark Penn, the initial chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign and pollster for Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection, expressed the fears of those who worry that Obama will drive away upper white-collar whites who have moved toward the Democrats over the past two decades. By making higher taxes on the wealthy "such a big part of his solution, [Obama] is in fact just splitting his coalition," Penn insisted.

At a National Journal conference this week previewing the 2012 election, Geoff Garin, who succeeded Penn atop Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2008, expressed the opposite view during a panel I moderated. "This label of populism ignores the reality of the conversation that's going on and the positions that President Obama represents in the debate," Garin said. "You know, it's only about 75 percent of the public that supports a millionaire's tax. The Republicans can have the other 25 percent. We'll take the 75."

This dispute marks one of the critical strategic decisions Obama faces. It revolves around a straightforward question: will upper middle-class voters believe that Obama is targeting them when he talks about asking more from the rich, or will they share the sense that people on the very top rungs of the economic ladder have gotten off too easy and need to contribute more? Recent volumes of the United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll published in National Journal Daily offer some insight on the dispute-and some support for each side's argument.

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Barack Obama, blue-collar, millionaire's tax, populism, white-collar

No Love Between Tax Policy Center and Rick Perry

By Susan Davis

October 31, 2011 | 4:31 PM

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The center-left Tax Policy Center offered a harsh review of GOP Texas Gov. Rick Perry's optional tax plan on its Oct. 26 TaxVox blog last week calling it "a policy disaster" that would do nothing to simplify the tax code and would mainly benefit the richest among us.

"Whatever you think of the rest of Perry's plan, giving taxpayers a choice about how much tax to pay is just plain dumb," wrote Howard Gleckman.

It looks like the Perry campaign may have read the post, because when the Tax Policy Center released its formal analysis of the tax plan on Monday, this footnote caught our eye:

"TPC has made several attempts--beginning Tuesday, October 25--to contact the campaign to clarify key details and confirm the assumptions underlying this analysis. As of Monday, October 31, we have not received any response."

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Rick Perry, Tax Policy Center

Meanwhile, Back at Policy Code 9-9-9

By Major Garrett

October 31, 2011 | 2:29 PM

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While Herman Cain dealt with sexual harassment charges, a sober and wonky discussion -- the first of its kind -- took place today on his 9-9-9 tax plan.

The American Enterprise Institute welcomed Cain, who discussed the broad outlines, and then followed with a panel discussion featuring Cain's chief economic adviser, Rich Lowrie.

The lengthiest defense against criticism of 9-9-9 can be found in Lowrie's opening statement. That begins at 1:25:40 and ends at 1:40:35.

Lowrie's said 9-9-9 is a simpler, more transparent tax system that seeks to boost production incentives and eliminate barriers between capital and entrepreneurs. Lowrie also said 9-9-9 is revenue neutral ("period") and isn't an add-on tax, but a substitute tax.

"We're pulling out 40 percentage points of taxation and putting in 27 percentage points," Lowrie said, adding the plan has made it "safe for politicians to follow" the former Godfather's Pizza CEO into the tax reform debate.

If you're looking for a substantive analysis of 9-9-9, its economic goals, conservative and liberal criticism, and the relationship between tax policy and U.S. economic growth, this is the best you will find.

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9-9-9, American Enterprise Institute, Cain, CEO, economic growth, Godfather's Pizza, Lowrie, sexual harassment, tax reform

The Password is....Reconciliation

By Major Garrett

October 27, 2011 | 5:21 PM

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You may not remember the hit game show Password. It was such a big deal fans can buy DVDs of the CBS years 1962-67 (cue Jerry Seinfeld: "Who are these people?"). Password awarded money if a player identified the secret word based on clues provided by their playing partner. The audience heard the word in advance, voice-of-God style. So?

By my count, 142,130 words have been spoken in the eight GOP presidential debates. The most important word surfaced twice at the Washington Post-Bloomberg debate. That word? Reconciliation: the procedural key to repealing President Obama's health care law (which is the context Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney raised it). It could also be used to enact tax reform.

GOPers now sense they might run the House and Senate in 2013 and have the reconciliation power to do big things with a GOP president or confront a re-elected Obama. This explains the current flat tax fever. Either way, the password is reconciliation.