2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida: on Tax Reform
John McCain:
Romney raising fees a quarter-billion dollars is a tax hike
Q: Do you believe Romney raising fees a quarter-billion dollars is equivalent to raising taxes? A: I’m sure those people that had to pay it did.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
Opposed to the Bush tax cuts as spending got out of control
I voted on the tax cuts because I knew that unless we had spending under control, we were going to face a disaster. We let spending get completely out of control. Those tax cuts have to remain permanent, otherwise people experience a tax increase.
We let spending get out of control. We presided over the biggest increase in the size of government that with--since the “Great Society.” We let it get out of control. I we had had the spending restraints that I proposed, we would be talking about more
tax cuts today. We would be talking about more tax cuts. The trust and confidence in our base was eroded. I will restore that trust and confidence because I will restrain spending along with further tax cuts. I’m very proud of my record.
If you look at those organizations that grade people, my record is very, very high for a consistent record of being a fiscal conservative. But I’m going to stop the pork barrel spending, and we’re not going to have any more “Bridges to Nowhere.”
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
John McCain:
FactCheck: Against Bush tax cuts in 2003; for them in 2006
McCain spoke as though he had always supported Bush’s tax cuts, saying, “I think it’s very important that we make the Bush tax cuts permanent. I voted to make them permanent twice already.”It is true that McCain voted in 2006 to make the
Bush tax cuts permanent. But he was against the cuts before he was for them, and his statements in the debate dismiss that fact. McCain voted against both sets of Bush tax cuts, in 2001 and in 2003. And on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 2004,
McCain stated that he did not support extending all the cuts, though he did go on to say that he would make the so-called “middle class” tax cuts permanent.
McCain is entitled to change his mind. And in fact, his opinions are not necessarily
contradictory; he may believe that the tax cuts he opposed should now be made permanent so that taxpayers know what to expect. But his statements in the debate could lead voters to believe that he has always supported the cuts, and that’s simply not true
Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mike Huckabee:
FairTax will tax the average American much less
Q: How does that help the 93 percent of Americans who are paying 15% or less right now?A: They’re not paying 15 percent; that’s in their visible tax in the terms of the takeout from their checks. When you include the built-in tax, the embedded tax
in the products we buy that corporations build in, the average American is paying 33% in his or her taxes. It would be a dramatic difference if the taxpayers got to choose the taxes, which they would do under the FairTax.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mike Huckabee:
FairTax and its prebate untax the poor and the elderly
People would love to see the IRS abolished. The harder you work, the more you earn, the more the IRS and the government wants from you. What the FairTax does is says, we want you to earn; we want you to save and we want you to buy things and sell things
and make a profit. It goes to the common sense of the idea that we should encourage people to work and get something for it. A lot of people have never read the entire FairTax because when I first heard about the FairTax, the consumption tax, quite
frankly it sounds like it would be oppressive and regressive to the poor. The poor come out best of all because of the provision in the FairTax called the prebate in which every American, each month, is given the amount of the FairTax back up to the
level of poverty. Everybody gets it, not just those under the level of poverty. It actually untaxes the poor, untaxes the elderly. It makes sure that we don’t end up paying taxes on groceries and medicine and the basic necessities of life.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mike Huckabee:
FactCheck: To be revenue-neutral, FairTax raises some taxes
In a lengthy exchange, Huckabee praised the FairTax, saying: “For each third of the economy, there is a benefit, about a 14% benefit for those at the bottom; those in the middle, about a 7%; even those at the very top end of the economy end up with about
a 5% benefit.”Huckabee’s claim that everyone will pay less is a fantasy. The FairTax claims to be revenue neutral. That means that it has to collect the same $2.4 trillion that the current system collects. And remember that the
FairTax replaces corporate income and payroll taxes. That means that individuals have to pony up to replace those in addition to replacing the sums collected via personal income and payroll taxes.
So Huckabee is suggesting that the
FairTax will generate exactly the same revenue while collecting nothing from corporations and still costing everyone less than they are currently paying. We certainly hope Huckabee has a barrel of magic pixie dust buried somewhere.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mike Huckabee:
FactCheck: FairTax does not bring underground into economy
Huckabee said about the FairTax, “Everybody gets in the economy--no more underground economy. Drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, gamblers, non-Republicans--all of those people out there will be paying taxes. Nobody’s working under the table.”
Huckabee’s suggestion that the FairTax will end the underground economy is highly unlikely. It’s true that pimps and drug dealers will now be taxed when they spend their earnings. But will they really charge johns and junkies sales tax on their purchases
It’s a better deal for the person buying the sex or drugs, and a worse deal for the person selling it.
In fact, far from ending the underground economy, there is a real possibility that the FairTax will feed it growth hormones.
There would probably be two prices--one you can pay with a check or credit card that includes the FairTax and one you can pay in cash & save 23%. Because there would no longer be any audits of income, tracing such tax evasion would be extremely difficult
Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Mitt Romney:
I support the Bush tax cuts
I support the Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts helped get our economy going again when we faced the last tough times. That’s why right now, as we face tough times, we need to have somebody who understands, has the private sector, the business world,
the economy in their DNA. I do. I spent my life in the private sector. I know how jobs come & how they go, and I’ll make sure that we create more good jobs for this nation. One way to do that is by holding down taxes & making those tax cuts permanent.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Rudy Giuliani:
Reduce the capital gains tax, permanently
Q: You’ve in the past supported a wide array of tax cuts. Do you think it’s a mistake that they’re not in Bush’s economic stimulus package? A: I think this package, for what it does, is okay, and I would support it, but it doesn’t go far enough.
I think in the face of what’s been going on, which obviously is a matter of serious concern, we should be very aggressive. [I support] legislation introduced that would be the largest tax reduction in American history.
It would take the Bush tax cuts, make them permanent, reduce the corporate tax, reduce the capital gains tax, reduce taxes on those things that would allow business to see America as more competitive.
And you almost don’t have a distinction any longer between temporary and permanent in the kind of an economy that we live in.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida
Jan 24, 2008
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2018