WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats are mocking House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget plan as "hocus pocus," charging it will actually either explode the deficit or heavily tax the middle class.
The policy paper -- released Thursday and decorated with Ryan in a magician's suit -- relies heavily on the analysis done by the Tax Policy Center on the proposals of Mitt Romney and Ryan in the presidential race. The analysis found that cutting top rates from 36 percent to 25 percent would add $4.5 trillion more to the deficit.
After the fiscal cliff deal in January hiked taxes on top earners to 39 percent, the gap would likely be even larger, the Democrats argue. The only way to make up the difference would be to increase taxes on people farther down the income chain. Since Ryan says he wants to make the lower-end tax rate 10 percent, the Democrats argue that increased revenue would have to come from closing popular loopholes like mortgage and charitable deductions, even for people of modest means.
The Democrats also point out that Ryan uses $716 billion in Medicare savings from Obamacare, even as he aims to repeal it.
Read the full memo here:
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