Mitt Romney Takes Some Tax Deductions Off the Table

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


I see that Wolf Blitzer almost managed to get a straight answer out of Mitt Romney a couple of days ago about which deductions he’d eliminate to make up for the $5 trillion in across-the-board tax rate cuts that he’s promised. Or, rather, he almost managed to get Romney to take a couple of deductions off the table. “Let’s go through how you would do that,” Blitzer said. “Specifically, home mortgage deductions, charitable contributions. Are you ready to remove those?” Romney filibustered for a bit and then said:

With regards to the deductions you describe, home mortgage interest deduction and charitable contributions, there will of course continue to be preferences for those types of expenses.

Hmmm. “Preferences” is still a bit weasel wordy, but it sure sounds like he’s promising not to touch those items. In other words, he’s making his promise of revenue neutrality ever more ridiculous with every passing day. All that’s left is for someone to ask him whether he’s willing to start taxing healthcare benefits. If he says no, that would pretty much take off the table every single tax expenditure of any serious size. There’s just nothing left to balance out his rate cuts for millionaires.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate