Pawlenty: Big Tax Cuts for Wealthy, Biz

09 June 2011 |permalink | email article

The former Minnesota governor, far behind in polls for the Republican presidential nomination, has opted for tax and spending cuts greater than any of his primary rivals, coupled with two to three times as much in federal spending cuts. His questionable theory is that such policies would increase economic growth by 150 percent and reduce the deficit by 40 percent. The Wall Street Journal predictably applauded it as Reagan-like reform of lower tax rates for individuals and businesses.

Under Pawlenty’s proposal, for example, the corporate income tax rate would be reduced from 35 percent to 15 percent, the lowest in decades. Individual federal income tax rates would be flattened by just two rates. Michael Linden, director of tax and budget policy at the liberal Center for the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group, called the plan “sheer fantasy.” He said the dramatically lower tax rates would cause “huge, massive deficits” by reducing federal revenues to historically low levels.

California Notebook

Jerry Brown has an ongoing dilemma: How does the governor convince Republican legislators to break the budget standoff over whether to extend higher sales and vehicle taxes until the mid-September election? “That’s the big sticking point,” he told the Sacramento Bee. Republicans agree that the tax bridge to the election remains the fundamental divide.

Question: How much money has the U.S. spent so far in Afghanistan? The answer: $18.8 billion.

Read ‘em and weep

The weenie Weiner married up to Hillary Clinton’s aide, the glamorous and classy Huma Abedin, and only eleven months later got caught e-dating down with a Vegas blackjack dealer, a porn star and a couple of college students. – Maureen Dowd, noting Weiner had only one thing to brag about: “I’ve never had sex outsider my marriage.”

“I’m not afraid of Palin,” Ed Rollins, Michelle Bachmann’s new campaign manager, told Politico. Conservatives4 Palin demanded that the Minnesota congresswoman either confirm her support for the long-time beltway fossil’s idiotic comments, or repudiate them.”

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