POTUS to Say in NH: Under Ryan Plan, Romney Would Have Paid Less Than 1 Percent in Taxes - Is It True?
Later today in Windham, New Hampshire, President Obama will note that "Congressman Ryan put forward a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than 1 percent in taxes each year. Here's the kicker: he expects you to pick up the tab. Governor Romney's tax plan would actually raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000. Not to reduce the deficit, or grow jobs, or invest in education ¬but to give another tax cut to people like him."
There are a lot of facts (and conflating of facts) in these four sentences, so it's worth a vetting.
First of all, it is completely accurate that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., in 2010 proposed eliminating capital gains taxes, which would have significantly reduce Mitt Romney's tax rate, to less than one percent.
You can see that right HERE on the "ROADMAP FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE": where it notes that Ryan proposes a budget that "promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital gains, and dividends; also eliminates the death tax."
Two caveats: First, eliminating the capital gains tax was NOT in the most recent Ryan budget proposal. And second - and perhaps most importantly, since he is the one at the top of the ticket - Mitt Romney has said he opposes eliminating the capital gains tax for anyone in his tax bracket, though he supports eliminating it for those who make less than $200,000 a year.
In January during a GOP debate, Romney criticized Newt Gingrich proposing that, saying, "under that plan, I`d have paid no taxes in the last two years."
Now the next thing the president will do in this passage is he seems to blur the Ryan proposal from 2010 and the Romney proposal from 2012. He pivots from the Ryan plan to Romney's tax plan, which he asserts "would actually raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000."
That's from an analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, - and it's one that the Romney campaign disputes.
You can read all about that back-and-forth HERE (or HERE or HERE) but the bottom line is it's separate and independent from the Ryan 2010 "Roadmap."
-Jake Tapper