This morning, The New York Times, MSNBC's Morning Joe and the Obama campaign are all asking the same question: Why won't Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan get specific about which tax loopholes they will eliminate?
The Times article outlines how the Romney campaign's reluctance to offer any specifics on the tax deductions they plan to eliminate leaves them open to the the consistent attacks from the Democrats that the plan will lead to an increased tax burden for the middle class. The Tax Policy Center and other analysts say that's the only way to cut taxes for the very rich without adding to the deficit.
This issue led the self-identifying conservative Joe Scarborough to go on a tirade against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan this morning for being too timid with their answers thus far to these questions. In Scarborough's words:
"If you don't start telling people what you believe--if you really do, in fact believe in anything-- and if you don't start telling people, yes, these are the tax exemptions that we're going to get taken care of... unless you have somebody that's willing to do that, Romney's going to lose."
The series of segments from the Sunday morning talk shows that open the Morning Joe clip above are remarkably similar to this two minute online ad released by the Obama campaign today. The video below uses the words of Romney, Ryan and the journalists who have been increasingly pressing them on taxes to show how the candidates appear to be hiding the realistic consequences of their plan (or lack thereof).
The GOP convention was the Romney campaign's chance to dispel the notion that their policies would raise taxes on the middle class. But without showing the specifics of how they would achieve that tricky arithmetic, the American people will have to assume that the charge is true. Fortunately for President Obama, he had his "Secretary of Explaining Stuff" at the DNC to make sure the country understands the consequences of Republican policies. With Romney and Ryan getting attacked from all sides for their lack of specifics, they will have to either nail some down or start rescinding the promises they've made to their richest supporters.
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