The Occasional Observer

Here's a link to the transcript of the entire interview.  Here's the part I heard Rush discussing today.  Bold emphasis is my own.

Here's the money quote from Mitt:  "...It is my attempt NOT to reduce the burden paid by the top earners but instead to maintain it at its current level to bring the [marginal] rates down."

When you consider that the top 1% of wage earners pay ~39% of the treasury's total tax receipts, and Mitt thinks that number is too low, you realize this is pandering, lukewarm class-envy politics.

Triangulating between supply side growth policies and #OWS madness.  Way to go, Mitt.

Pertinent sections of the transcript are quoted below the fold.

KUDLOW: All right. Let me shift gears back to tax day and some related issues. You told a Florida group, I guess it was a fund-raiser, I don't know if you meant to put this out or not, but you talked about some--eliminating income tax deductions for upper-end earners to pay for your 20 percent tax cut. You said second home, second home mortgages, some state and local taxes. What can you tell us about that? It sounds pretty sensible. Are you staying with that?

Gov. ROMNEY: Well, I've put a number of things on the table, and you understand that virtually all of the deductions and exemptions, particularly for high-income taxpayers, are going to be on the table because we're going to have to... limit for high-income individuals some of the deductions and exemptions in order to compensate for the reduction in rates. This is, of course, the way Bowles-Simpson laid out their plan. Bring the rates down, the tax rates down, the top marginal rates down so businesses have an incentive to hire again and to grow; and to pay for that, in part, by limiting the deductions and exemptions, particularly on high-income folks, because it is my attempt not to reduce the burden paid by the top earners but instead to maintain it at its current level but to bring the rates down.

KUDLOW: So you're sticking with it, you're not pulling back? There was a story in The New York Times, some of your aides were saying, `Oh, no, no, don't take that seriously.' It sounds like you're staying with it. Some of these deductions are going to have to go. And also, I want to ask you if you're staying with the sharp spending cuts for HUD. You mentioned your father, of course, ran HUD, maybe even eliminating HUD, Department of Education. And I was going to ask you why not get rid of the scandal-ridden GSA while we're at it?

Gov. ROMNEY: Well, I can say this, what I'm standing by is that--and I've said this from the very beginning--we are going to limit deductions and exemptions, particularly for high-income individuals. As to which specifics and how much the limits will be and at what income levels they'll be limited, that's something which time will tell. We'll work out that with Congress. But we're going to have to broaden the tax base and limit some deductions and exemptions if we're going to compensate for the reduction in rates...