Every person in the US heard, over and over, how Gore claimed to have "invented" the internet. How many people will learn of the hard-core joke the Repukes have become?

I just hope the DNC has the good sense to decline comment on this thing. It's so ridiculous that the DNC should just stand back and watch the GOP keep digging.

Sigh, dumb reporters annoy me.

The reduced number of tax brackets is a trivial simplification of the tax system (the hard part of doing my taxes is not the tax table lookup), yet it is the only one the Andrew Taylor of AP mentions. Vastly more simplifying is the vague bit about "clearing out nearly all the existing tax deductions and credits".

It is just another thinly disguised gift to the rich, but that is no excuse for dumb reporting.

So the deficits would be at least $800 bln per year under their plan if everyone paid the lower tax rate.

Somehow I think that taxes would go up for the lower income levels, which is another reason for the option.

Every time I hear someone talking about tax simplification, my head wants to explode...what are we children? We have computers. (I'll refer you to a great line in GalaxyQuest)

As an aside, every chance I get, I try and convince people the IRS should be providing free, Q&A based, on-line tax preparation software, ala TurboTax/TaxCut, it would: eliminate this argument as the tax code could be as complicated as you care (say, a continuous smooth function of income, as many deductions/credits as you want), easy, fair, authoritative, robust, efficient, and make tracking, auditing, etc simple for the IRS. Short of the IRS doing your taxes for you, pretty much perfect IMHO.

I think I can give an example of where someone would opt for the current system, though I am assuming the 10/25 proposal eliminates deductions. In 2004, reports showed that Teresa Heinz Kerry had $5 million in income and paid 15% total. Cheney had $2 million total income and paid less than 13%. Anyone with very high income, comprised of mostly capital gains would go this route.

Why YES! Of course, the rich (GOP) Americans would choose to do what's right and pay the higher rate...after all, isn't that what they did the last EIGHT YEARS???

I still think that the Repubs released this today knowing that the G20 is going to dominate the news cycle (not to mention Michelle Obama's darling suit that she wore to meet the Queen!!!) and their idiocy will get buried.

MLE - The IRS is forbidden from creating its own tax software because it would put the private companies out of business. I'm not joking and no, that's not a conspiracy theory. That's the truth. The IRS is currently not allowed to compete with private industry because it would be much better at it. The compromise is that the tax software companies have to provide free services to customers, though they generally try to screw you into paying for packages you don't need.

And this all shows yet again the fallacy of the private market being better than the government. Our current system of having multiple companies writing their own software which they all have to market, in order to filter the same information into the same IRS database is a joke. We should all be able to log into the IRS system and enter our information directly. But instead, we have this tremendously inefficient and expensive free-market "solution" that only creates more headaches.

*Of course* Republicans -- compassionate conservatives every one of them -- would choose to pay the higher rate. Hasn't there been a report recently showing that they're more likely to contribute to charities than Dems?

Now Dems... Dems might pose a problem... Not, necessarily, the "Turbo Tax a la Geithner" type of problem, but, still...

0 percent up to $25,000, 10 percent up to $100,000 and 25 percent above that? Wait. Isn't that a "progressive" income tax. My God, that's socialism.

It's surprising that Republicans, in the spirit of bipartisanship, haven't offered a compromise tax increase by imposing a $10,000 tax on patients and providers involved in abortions and on partners in gay marriage.

As mentioned, the proposal gets rid of non-business deductions in trade for the lower rates. It may be close to a wash, but it is clear that the Republicans don't care about deficits today, either.

It's nice to see that they have the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis to tell lies on their behalf. The assumptions of the CDA are clearly defective, however. Too bad the AP doesn't have a reporter who understands budgeting.

The Republicans should just be honest and say "Our agenda is to steal from the American people and give to our ultra-rich white-collar-crook mega-polluter war-profiteer corporate cronies and financial backers. Only when the richest one percent of Americans own everything, and everyone else is an impoverished, indentured cheap-labor serf, will we be satisfied."

As far as the taxation on capital gains, I thought the GOP was proposing to eliminate the entire tax for a time. Someone should really work up some scenarios under this plan and lay out the numbers clearly. I'll bet it will show even more clearly what a joke this budget is.

The spending part of the budget is a bit vague, as in, complete nonsense. Paul Ryan, you used to be a sensible Republican. What happened? Why did you put your name on this joke of a report?

Only slightly related to tax rates, but let me be the first to say, imagine your tax rates right now. In the future, in an hour if you watch PBS's Frontline, Ten Trillion and Counting you will look back fondly at that moment. Imagine combining the movies Wall Street, The Perfect Storm and The Grapes of Wrath and you get to be in it. Bush 43 and Cheney may go to the Hague to escape from us.

As an aside, every chance I get, I try and convince people the IRS should be providing free, Q&A based, on-line tax preparation software, ala TurboTax/TaxCut.

Actually, they do essentially do that by partnering up with companies (including TurboTax) that agree to provide free preparation software to everyone. You can see the options here.

The only thing you get charged for is e-File -- if you want to just print out the completed return and mail it in, that's totally free.

Mnemosyne:
"Actually, they do essentially do that by partnering up with companies (including TurboTax) that agree to provide free preparation software to everyone."

Mnemosyne's link:
"If the amount is not specified, Free File online tax preparation and e-file services are limited to taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income of $56,000 or less."

It seems that they are really much more limited than that. Turbo-tax says

If the IRS just made the software it could work for everyone, or at least the overwhelmingly vast majority.

The public/private partnership seems to only offer free service to people they don't think are likely to pay for it, or are hoping to lock in as customers (which, i presume, is the reason they seem to like people under 25 years).

"It seems that they are really much more limited than that. Turbo-tax says "

Oops.

Turbo-tax says

hmmm the comment system seems to be doing something odd.

Turbo tax will only let you use its software for free if you AGI is less than 30,000 or you are ex-military and your AGI is less than 56,000 or you qualify for the EITC.

will this one work???

btw not a bug in the comments system really, forgot not to use angle brackets :)

The public/private partnership seems to only offer free service to people they don't think are likely to pay for it, or are hoping to lock in as customers (which, i presume, is the reason they seem to like people under 25 years).

I think the premise is that people making over $50,000 a year should be able to pony up the $30 for their own copy of TurboTax.

Also, if you go straight to TurboTax's website, you can use their federal tax return software for free. The way they get you is (a) you can't have a super-complicated return and (b) you have to pay separately to do your state return. HR Block also offers a free option to all comers, presumably with similar restrictions.

The HR Block site has convinced me that most people are able to use their software for their federal tax return for free. Thanks.

It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. I expected a nightmare like what one has to go through to get a free credit report: a massive maze of choices to avoid buying something and get to what they are legally required to provide for free. HR Block gave many choices to buy, but they weren't obfuscated like the credit agencies and locked down with silly security measures on information they sell for pennies.

It did, however, take a person like you who knew it existed several stabs to find the right entry point to the system.

If the government provided such software it would likely work for state returns for free as well, would work for nearly everyone, and e-filing would also be free (it saves the government money afterall).

I suspect that if the IRS made it so that absolutely all tax filings (meaning the complex ones) went through such a system they would also improve the tax regulations to some degree. When you have to describe a system such that a computer can run it you uncover many ambiguities and conflicts.

"They should have quit while they were behind."
Steve, simply brilliant.

According to my back-of-the-napkin calculation, the GOP's new system would save me close to $10,000 a year in taxes.

I can certainly see how that would appeal to someone who cares more about themselves than, you know ... their country.

The HR Block site has convinced me that most people are able to use their software for their federal tax return for free. Thanks.

Unless you have a Mac. :-( I did my whole frickin' return from their website last year but couldn't complete and send it because it was just that tiny bit incompatible with all of my Mac browsers. I ended up having to go back to TurboTax and do the whole thing over again.

I know a lot of people aren't aware that there are free options, so I was doing a bit of a PSA since everyone just loooooves doing their taxes taxes.

Anonymous Liberal had a great question for the republicans:
why even give people the option of paying the higher rate when "we all know" that paying the lower rate will actually result in increased revenue? How can Supply Side Jesus work his magic if people keep paying their money to the government at the higher rate?

Read the whole article, it's worth it.