October 4, 2012
Last night, Heritage Foundation experts live-blogged their analysis of the issues raised as President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney debated. Heritage’s Amy Payne rounds up our what our experts were saying.
Tax expert Curtis Dubay on the need for tax reform:
Obama repeated the falsehood that Romney’s plan would raise taxes on the middle class. This incorrect assertion was spread by a biased report from the Tax Policy Center. Romney’s plan can make pro-growth changes to the tax code and doesn’t have to raise taxes on the middle class.
Read our experts’ takedown of the Tax Policy Center’s flawed report.
Education expert Lindsay Burke on education reform:
Further increasing federal education spending will fail to improve academic outcomes. Policymakers need to trim federal spending—not increase it—and empower state education leaders with control over their share of education funding… A better prescription for improving educational outcomes is empowering states with control of education dollars and decision-making, giving them the ability to craft policies that allow parents to direct their children’s education. Here’s Heritage’s plan for how to do just that.
Economists J.D. Foster and Alyene Senger on Medicare:
Similar to the Heritage plan, Romney’s plan restructures the Medicare program for future generations. His proposal, called premium support, would provide a government contribution toward the cost of a private plan or traditional Medicare… Premium support is not a “voucher” any more than is current law. It just says government will pick up a big part of the tab for your health insurance, and if you want to spend more, then you pay the difference. There’s nothing exceptional about this. It is exactly what happens today under Medicare Advantage.
Romina Boccia on how Obamacare will raise taxes on everyone:
Obama proclaimed that he reduced taxes for the middle class. What he failed to mention is that he also increased taxes on the middle class. Let’s not forget that the President’s health care law will raise taxes on the middle class and the poor in four years as reported by the Congressional Budget Office. For instance, a family of four making about $24,600 per year, the projected federal poverty level in 2016, could be subject to Obamacare’s controversial individual mandate tax. This is only one of the 18 taxes and penalties imposed by Obamacare, some of which will hit Americans as early as January 2013.
For more information about the $494 billion in tax hikes scheduled to hit in January 2013, visit our Taxmageddon page.
David Azerad on the candidates’ ideas about the role of government:
When asked about the role of the government, Obama brought up his favorite metaphor, “the ladder of opportunity.” And as usual, he incorrectly suggested that it’s government spending that creates these ladders of opportunity… Given the President’s statist and egalitarian impulses, perhaps the “escalator of results” might be a more fitting analogy next time: Everybody just hops on and we all get to the same place with little effort on our behalf.
This was the first of the three scheduled debates for the presidential candidates. The next two will cover foreign policy and more domestic policy.
Did the debate answer your questions about the candidates’ policy ideas? Tell us in the comments.
John Eason - October 4, 2012
I believe Obama’s true colors came out with his statements about health insurers and student loan companies, “The government doesn’t have to make a profit so we can do it for less”. Based on this socialist premise, Walmart and Costco better watch out because government might decide to “eliminate the middleman” and get into their business.