Short: What I missed in the Camp tax proposition

I missed a huge story concerning Dave Camp's tax reform proposal. What I saw was that Camp couldn't make the math work for a 25% highest tax bracket. I also thought at the time (though I didn't write it), that Camp's tax reform was doomed because other Republicans won't accept the reality of the numbers.

Here's what I missed:

• Wall Street took exception to taxes on too-big-to-fail banks. Their lobbyists brought out the big guns (albeit behind the scenes) and made lots of GOP reps denounce or disavow Camp's tax proposal. 
• The anti-Wall Street populists in the GOP (Tea Partyers) are true to form. They don't understand and don't care about policy, so they aren't supporting these provisions on banks ... because all Tea Partyers know how to do is scream or bluster. (Confirmed again by the only article in HotAir on the issue, and its cra-aa-azy comments.)
• Tax reform was always a long shot, but we can kiss it good-bye. The chairmen of the applicable committees are changing, and the incoming ones aren't likely to pursue tax reform. 

Did we gain anything? Did we learn anything? TBD but not likely.

Image: cpn-news.com

Hat tip: Jonathan Chait again.

Republicans can't make a flat tax work either

Yes, this headline is an exaggeration. Not many Republicans are running on a flat tax, but they do pretend that tax rates could be significantly lower. Then one of the serious guys (Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee) crunched the numbers and got a nasty surprise.

Dave Camp wanted to cap the marginal tax rate at 25%, but the numbers didn't work out. He had to settle for 35% for the top bracket, and that was even with limiting deductions.

Why wasn't the 25% goal attainable? Because it was based on a fantasy. Our spending is too high to lower taxes, and our efforts to lower spending haven't gone so well. Camp aimed for all the revenue we're currently getting now, and he didn't use the questionable 'dynamic scoring' that lets legislators project overly optimistic numbers. (I'm referring to you, Paul Ryan.) This is what the reality of tax cuts looks like.

I don't know if it will have any impact on GOP campaigns this year or in 2016. GOP budgets and tax proposals have been pie-in-the-sky for 14 years now. This is the one exception, so can I really project that it will make a difference? No, I can't. Kudos to Dave Camp nonetheless.

Image: jdsrockinreaders.blogspot.com

Extras. I couldn't get a flat tax to work either, and now I have company. Herman Cain's plan was a farce. A conservative calls for the end of special treatment for capital gains. Good for him, but I beat him by several years.