An editorial on Aug. 14 (Our View, “Ryan budget fills gaps in Romney’s agenda”) says, “According to some calculations,” under Paul Ryan’s tax proposals, a wealthy individual like Mitt Romney who receives a lot of investment income would pay no federal income tax.

Whose calculations? Both Romney and Ryan propose reducing the number of tax brackets and lowering marginal rates, reforms that could benefit many middle-class taxpayers. Both have also proposed broadening the tax base by eliminating loopholes that favor the rich. This means that someone like Romney could pay higher or lower taxes than he pays now, depending on his current deductions.

The description of Ryan’s Medicare proposal is also misleading. Beginning in 2023, retirees would receive premium support sufficient to purchase a benchmark plan from among an array of options that includes both private insurance and traditional Medicare. Only seniors who choose a more expensive plan would pay any extra cost.

Deficits in Ryan’s budget are held to $3.1 trillion during the next 10 years, in part because Medicaid is restructured to become a block-grant program to the states in order to control the program’s runaway costs.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that deficits in President Obama’s budget would total $6.4 trillion.

It takes 28 years for Ryan’s budget to reach balance because he doesn’t raise taxes and because his Medicare reform doesn’t kick in for 10 years.

When would President Obama’s budget, with higher taxes but no entitlement reform, reach balance? Never.

Martin Jones is a resident of Freeport.

 

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