Politics: Tax Evasion

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Politics Tax Evasion Romney's preposterous arguments for not telling you which tax breaks he'd abolish. By William Saletan Posted Friday, Oct 05, 2012, at 11:53 AM ET In Wednesday's presidential debate, Mitt Romney said he would cut tax rates by 20 percent. He promised to do this without costing the government any revenue or forcing middle-class taxpayers to make up the difference. How would he make the math work? By eliminating tax loopholes and deductions. No way, said President Obama: "If you are lowering the rates the way you described, Governor, then it is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high-income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class." Romney insisted he could make the numbers add up, but he wouldn't say how. "I'm going to work together with Congress" to figure out "what are the various ways we could bring down deductions," he asserted. This preposterous dodge has been going on for weeks. Romney, Paul Ryan, and their surrogates have refused to say which deductions they'd eliminate. But their magic accounting, whatever it is, can't be half as creative as the arguments they've concocted for hiding it. Here's a catalogue of their excuses so far. 1. Specificity is for accountants. Last week on Meet the Press, David Gregory objected that Romney "has failed to enumerate any of the deductions that he would eliminate." Romney's representative on the show, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., dismissed the objection: "Gov. Romney has laid out a direction and a vision for the direction of this country. He's not an accountant ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Founding Fathers Fetish Assad's Barbaric Endgame Why Red Bull's Insane Record-Breaking Skydiving Stunt Will Help the Space Tourism Industry	Advertisement
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