Paul Ryan: Class warfare = bad economics. Let's work together to promote growth.

Pro-Growth Tax Reform - Fair. Competitive. Simple: http://budget.house.gov/taxreform/

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, House Budget Committee Chairman
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace
September 18, 2011

What we want to see are pro-growth economics. Even the President's Fiscal Commission are saying - with Democrats on there: lower tax rates, broaden the tax base for economic growth.

I guess what he's saying is he's going to raise the rate on capital at ordinary income tax rates, that's raising capital gains and dividends. Look, if you tax something more, you get less of it. If you tax job creators more, you get less job creation. If you tax investment more, you get less investment. At a time when experts are telling us, including like I said the Fiscal Commission, we should lower taxes on investment and job creation by getting rid of all the loopholes so we can promote economic growth. So, we think this is going in the wrong direction.

Let's not forget that under current law, that the President has already passed, the top tax rate on individuals and small businesses in 2013 goes to 44.8%. We have employers here in Wisconsin that pay this tax rate, who are competing against countries that are taxing their businesses from 16% in Canada, almost 21% going in England, 25% in China. The world taxes their businesses at about 25%, and he's saying we're going to tax our job creators at above 45% with this new tax.

What it does is it adds further instability to our system and more uncertainty. It punishes job creation and those people who create jobs.

Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics. We don't need a system that seeks to divide people. We don't need a system that seeks prey on people's fear, envy, and anxiety. We need a system that creates jobs and innovation, and removes these barriers for entrepreneurs to go out and hire people. I'm afraid these kind of tax increases don't work.

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When we've raised capital gains and dividend taxes, we hurt economic growth, we stifle investment in our economy. So if we tax investment and job creation more - you will get less of it.

It looks like the president wants to move down the class warfare path. Class warfare will simply divide this country more, attack job creators, and it doesn't grow the economy. Go to budget.house.gov and see a video we put out that shows a common sense idea - it has a lot of bipartisan support in Washington these days - to lower tax rates by going after the loopholes. Those same millionaires are the ones that use the tax shelters we propose to get rid of.


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You already have a $1.5 trillion tax increase coming in current law starting in 2013. He is giving us a stimulus bill, which is basically like the old stimulus bill, just half as large: temporary tax rebates with permanent tax increases - and then another tax increase on job creators and successful small businesses in addition to that? Why are earth would we go with that - especially when the problem is spending. We want to cut spending; we want to reform these entitlement programs and if we do it the right way it doesn't jeopardize current seniors; and we want to have a tax system that encourages investment, job creation and economic growth.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Paul-Ryan
• tax-reform
• class-warfare
• wisconsin
• budget
• president-obama
• tax
• economics
• jobs
• growth

[poindexterwitkowsky]

~~^~^~Since GOP Clown god, Ronald Reagan, Republicans have been waging CLASS WARFARE on the working people of America. The EFFECTIVE TAX RATE for the wealthest individuals & for corporations is the lowest in 50 yrs. Almost all Republicans have signed on to the GROVER NORQUIST no tax increase PLEDGE. Because of these COWARDLY TREASONOUS REPUBLICANS we now have a serious REVENUE problem which should be a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY. ~~~^~^^~^Is there not ONE REAL MAN IN THE LOT?~~^~^~^

^~^^^^

[nnjhansen]

@DillonDee1 What did your capital gains come from?

[michaeldantuono]

With Corporate personhood, bailouts, tax breaks for the rich and entitlement cuts for the rest, one thing is clear, class warfare has been waged against the middle class by the corporate elite.

There's an interesting video on youtube called Corpocracy that makes the point through art.

[Neosaigo]

Wow, Paul Ryan sure like making up numbers. I checked all the numbers he spewed out, and he was manipulating some of them. Well he IS on FOX "news", so that is nothing new.

[411American]

Obama is in a class all by himself WAR AFFAIR !!!

[nnjhansen]

@wangsta25 It does reward everyone.

[wangsta25]

@nnjhansen yes because the free market perfectly awards everyone

[nnjhansen]

@wangsta25 Who is taking this money?

Who decided that the money SHOULD be going to the 'middle and working classes'?

You earn what your labor is worth.

[wangsta25]

@nnjhansen They're taking money that should be going to the middle and working classes. Worker productivity in the middle and working classes have increased ever since the 1980's. Can we earn proportionally to the amount we work?

[nnjhansen]

@wangsta25 No one is talking about GIVING any money to rich people. The discussion is about how much to TAKE from them.

[wangsta25]

Give more money to rich people! It's always the solution to any problem!!!

[pragmatic0318]

The wealthiest 1% often:

Use money to hijack our political system.

Use wars as a means for profit and global expansion.

Pollute neighborhoods too poor to realize it until every other person has cancer.

Steal pensions from employees.

Fight any program (Soc. Security, Medicaid, WIC, Head Start) helping the vulnerable.

But to say so is class warfare? In that case, when the biggest kid in class punches the smallest one in the face; the one yelling "ouch" is clearly instigating a fight.