Newt Gingrich’s Economic Fix – The Overlooked Jobs Plan?
The presidential candidate’s plans to fix the economic crisis are pouring in. Jon Huntsman released his jobs plan Wednesday. Mitt Romney will release his next Tuesday, and President Obama is hoping to release his map for boosting job growth in the country the middle of next week but seems to have hit a snag when it comes to scheduling. But there’s one jobs plan that hasn’t received much coverage this election cycle – the one released by Newt Gingrich back in May.
The former speaker of the House, who announced his run for the presidency in May via Twitter, released his “ Jobs and Prosperity Plan” just two days after announcing his candidacy.
Gingrich crafted an economic plan with the intent of instantly boosting new business investment in the United States. His plan proposes eliminating the capital gains tax, bringing the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent, shifting to an optional 15 percent flat tax for all Americans, and abolishing the death tax on a permanent basis, all while reforming the FDA and EPA and repealing Sarbanes Oxley, Dodd-Frank and President Obama’s healthcare plan.
In his campaign, Gingrich has also emphasized the need to expand initiatives in developing American energy as a mechanism for creating new jobs.
These weren’t new ideas for Gingrich, who in 2009 released a jobs plan with similar goals – shifting the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent, ending the capital gains and death taxes, and calling for a balanced budget and an American energy plan. Gingrich also held a Real Jobs Summit in December 2009 at the same time President Obama held the White House Jobs Summit.
Huntsman joins Gingrich as the only candidate to release a jobs plan. The former Utah governor’s plan shares some of the same proposals as Gingrich’s – abolishing the capital gains tax, repealing Dodd-Frank and the president’s healthcare plan, and reforming existing EPA and FDA regulation.
But Huntsman doesn’t call for as deep a cut to the corporate tax rate – slashing it to only 25% while Gingrich’s plan calls for 12.5%. Huntsman consolidates the individual tax rates into a bracket system – 8 percent, 14 percent and 23 percent – and abolishes the dividends tax and Alternative Minimum Tax rate.
The Gingrich campaign did not comment on the specifics of Huntsman’s plan but stressed the need for an economic plan to boost job creation and business investment on American soil.
“The question isn’t what to do, it is, Who can do it? We need leadership now that can implement the right policies to put Americans back to work. Republicans should act now on several fronts and let the President explain why his policies create more food stamps than they do paychecks,” R.C. Hammond, spokesman for Gingrich, said.