For much of the general election, the Romney campaign has avoided any discussion of specifics, especially when it comes to the tax plan that he and Paul Ryan have put forward. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace gave Ryan an opportunity to finally talk about the details of his plan to a national audience, how much it will cost and how the Romney administration would pay for it.
Instead, Ryan said he didnt have time to get into the nuts and bolts of the proposal:
WALLACE: So how much would it cost?
RYAN: Its revenue neutral
WALLACE: No no, Im just talking about cuts. Well get to the deductions, but the cut in tax rates.
RYAN: The cut in tax rates is lowering all Americans tax rates by 20 percent.
WALLACE: Right, how much does that cost?
RYAN: Its revenue neutral. [...] WALLACE: But I have to point out, you havent given me the math.
Ryan: No, but you well, I dont have the time. It would take me too long to go through all of the math. But let me say it this way: you can lower tax rates by 20 percent across the board by closing loopholes and still have preferences for the middle class. For things like charitable deductions, for home purchases, for health care. So what were saying is, people are going to get lower tax rates.
Watch it:
Ryan has been the Republican vice presidential nominee for nearly three months, and has still not found the time to explain how a Romney administration would fund its tax plan of 20 percent deductions across the board. Perhaps that is because if he did, voters would balk at the cuts that would need to occur in programs like Medicare for the plan to remain revenue neutral.
Ryans refusal to talk specifics only lends further credibility to the various studies and reports that have found time to do the math. And as ThinkProgress has reported, those studies from non-partisan organizations show that the Romney/Ryan tax plan would actually result in a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. And the only way to keep it revenue neutral is to balance their plan on the backs of middle class families, who would see a tax increase of more than $2,000.