Issues: Taxes

“Nonpartisan Study” Backing Romney’s Tax Plan Comes From Conservative Think Tank That Employed Romney Advisers

In an effort to discredit the Tax Policy Center’s conclusion that Mitt Romney’s tax plan would either impose higher taxes on the middle class or require increased deficits, Republicans are touting a supposedly “nonpartisan study” proving otherwise. Last week, the Romney campaign released a television ad referencing the study that purports to refute the criticism of Romney’s plan.

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The “nonpartisan” analysis comes from the American Enterprise Institute, a decidedly conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. In fact, Romney’s economic team includes at least three people affiliated with AEI. Romney advisers Glenn Hubbard and Gregory Mankiw are both listed on AEI’s website as “visiting scholars.” Hubbard, who preceded Mankiw as chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, was “an architect of the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003,” according to the Washington Post. Another economic adviser and surrogate, Kevin Hassett, is AEI’s Director of Economic Policy Studies.

The author of the report backing Romney’s position is Alex Brill, an AEI research fellow who also served on President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. While Brill insists that Romney’s plan is “not a tax hike on the middle class,” he has previously criticized President Obama’s preference for tax cuts geared toward the middle class instead of the wealthiest Americans. In October 2008, Brill co-authored an op-ed arguing that “rate cuts for high incomes or reductions in investment taxes” are superior to Obama’s “tax favors for the middle class.”

Read more after the jump.

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “John Tierney”

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An ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cites the Affordable Care Act, Wall Street Reform, and the Bush tax cuts to build the case that Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) has “one of the worst voting records for small businesses.” But Tierney voted against various efforts to extend provisions of the Bush tax cuts because Republican plans routinely involved giveaways for the wealthy at the expense of the deficit, while the health care reform law includes tax credits for small businesses and Dodd-Frank targets large firms, not small banks.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Bill Enyart (IL-12) “Part of the Problem”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks Illinois congressional candidate Bill Enyart (D) for supporting the Affordable Care Act, which the ad misleadingly claims “cuts” Medicare and “hurts the middle class with new taxes.” In reality, the health care law does not increase taxes on most Americans, and it provides tax credits for millions. The Chamber also maligns Enyart for serving “in Gov. Blagojevich’s cabinet,” but leaves out crucial details about his role: Enyart was selected, after a 30-year career in the military, as head of the Illinois National Guard.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “IL-11 Can’t Afford Bill Foster”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce relies on stale misinformation to attack former Rep. Bill Foster’s (D-IL) positions on health care and tax policy. To support the claim that Foster’s support for the Affordable Care Act means “job-killing regulations on our small business owners,” the Chamber cites a Gallup poll that did not actually mention the health care law at all – and which identified weak consumer demand as the main obstacle to hiring. Furthermore, the Chamber dishonestly claims that ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will hurt job-growth, citing a flawed study that the Chamber itself commissioned.

Read more after the jump.

The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

We checked 26 new attack ads in the last week, including a trio that appeared late last Friday afternoon. The heavy volume makes sense given that the campaign is entering the home stretch, and it was powered by 15 new U.S. Chamber of Commerce ads, all of them in House races. Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS (3 ads) and American Crossroads (2) combined to come in a distant second, and the remaining six came from the arch-conservative Club for Growth, the anti-immigration obsessives at NumbersUSA, the Iowa-based American Future Fund, Restore Our Future, and the abortion-focused Susan B. Anthony List’s new “Women Speak Out PAC.”

Read more after the jump.

American Unity PAC: “Wrong Prescription”

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The American Unity PAC attacks Democratic congressional candidate Raul Ruiz (CA) for supporting the Affordable Care Act in an ad that claims the legislation raises taxes on “millions of middle- and lower-income families” by forcing them to buy health insurance. In reality, the health care law provides more tax relief than tax burden for the middle class, and lower- and middle-income families are eligible for tax credits that will help them afford premium payments. The ad also claims the ACA cuts $700 billion from Medicare and will kill jobs, both conservative attack lines that have been debunked.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “NY-24 Dan Maffei — Closed”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses vague buzzwords about regulations and health care to suggest Rep. Dan Maffei (D-NY) doesn’t “understand how tough it’s been for New York small businesses.” Dig into the ad’s fine print, though, and you’ll see the Chamber is talking about Wall Street regulations written to forestall another catastrophic collapse like the one that closed out the Bush years. The ads’ claims about taxes in the Affordable Care Act are similarly misleading.

Read more after the jump.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “NY-27 Kathy Hochul – Failure”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) for voting for the Affordable Care Act, claiming that the legislation raises taxes on small business and impose a $1,200 per year tax on “millions of middle class families.” In reality, millions of small businesses are eligible for tax credits under the health care law, and the ACA reduces the overall burden on the middle class.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “Louise Slaughter – Wrong Way”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) over her vote for the Affordable Care Act and against a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts for top earners. What the ad doesn’t mention is that the health care law, which doesn’t raise taxes on most Americans, makes tax credits available to millions of small businesses. Meanwhile, although Slaughter opposed tax giveaways for the top 2 percent of earners, she has since supported extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “NY-18 Sean Maloney – Wrong”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a conservative group that received millions of dollars from insurance companies to fight health care reform, has released an ad attacking New York House candidate Sean Maloney for supporting the Affordable Care Act. However, despite the ad’s claims about “more spending and higher taxes,” millions of families and small businesses across the country are now eligible for tax credits because of the health care law. In addition, the ACA reduces the deficit.

Read more after the jump.