Everybody is lying when they say that Ryan’s plan cuts taxes for the rich and for corporations by $1.3 trillion, or by $2.6 trillion, or that it cuts taxes without specifying any amount. That it proposes to lower the top rate from 35% to 25% is unarguable. It also proposes to do something called “reform” with respect to “tax expenditures,” which is a weird term used for loopholes and tax deductions. What exactly that “reform” would consist of is unclear.
In speeches, Ryan says that the plan will eliminate deductions in a “revenue neutral” manner, supposedly meaning that deductions would be eliminated in a manner that would precisely offset the reduction in the top rate. That is somewhat seriously at odds with his claim that it would benefit companies and make them more competitive, and if it is spelled out in the plan itself it is certainly very well disguised.
Indeed the language about “reforming the tax code” is in the plan, but it is a masterpiece of doubletalk and obfuscation. If anyone claims that they can decipher how much corporate and upper income taxes will be reduced by reading that plan, or even specifically that they will be reduced at all, they are lying. It would not be unreasonable to claim that the plan gives an appearance that it might be a net cut of those taxes, but…
Update: Corrected wording above to reflect the degree to which Ryan's statements are at odds with each other.
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