I didn't see the entire debate, so I can only comment on Obama's claim that Romney's tax plan costs $5 trillion in tax revenue. In that case I think it more that Obama stepped in his own Bull Shiz. Yes, some private estimates, which rely HEAVILY upon assumptions, have quoted that amount, just as others have differed. Obama and the Dems have been making a claim they cannot support. Romney's published tax plan lacks sufficient detail to produce an estimate and curiously the Dems keep lamenting that lack of detail but at the same time make the $5 trillion claim. Trying to have it both ways bit him in the azz.
Fern
The $5 trillion figure is based on the fact that he's doing a 20% reduction of rates across the board. There's other assumptions such as the elimination of capital gains taxes for incomes of $200k and lower (also on Romney's website). Then it also assumes a reduction in the corporate tax rate. Obama could've cited Mitt's own website saying that.
TPC estimated $5 trillion reduction in revenue over 10 years. All of this is based on what Romney has disclosed.
It's easy to rebuttal Romney when he keeps saying "but my tax plan doesn't cost $5 trillion."
Possible Obama responses:
- But $5 trillion is based on your own website. Unless you're telling the American public you're changing your tax plan on the fly, it is most certainly $5 trillion. How about this, show the American public how much your tax plan actually DOES cost then, and feel free to cite any 3rd party analysis.
That would've been a zinger.
Furthermore TPC says that there's not enough deductions to eliminate to make up for the cuts in revenue. Obama could've easily asked, so which deductions DOES Romney intend to eliminate? I think he could've easily slammed Romney on the fact that child tax credit, charity donations, and mortgage interest rates are deductions that almost everyone in the middle class relies on.
He debated like crap. How is anyone from middle America supposed to understand that Romney's going to raise taxes on the middle class unless its broken down how his tax plan (according to his website) should work? I think Obama did bring it up a few times, but it was never convincing enough. He repeated $5 trillion like it was the truth when Romney just swatted it down. You can't just repeat something someone denies, unless you show that denial is full or crap. It's simple logic. Obama obviously had the $5 trillion figure ingrained in his head but knew nothing more about it. This is the problem with debates. Either they're not smart enough to debate or they all have too much crap memorized/prepared and too much to worry about on a daily basis to even use logical and sound arguments to refute the opposition.