Rep. Ryan Responds to Concerns about His Roadmap
In recent weeks, TaxVox has posted a couple of articles (here and here) that expressed concerns about Representative Paul Ryan's dramatic fiscal plan aimed at balancing the budget and eliminating the national debt by the end of the century. Today, the Wisconsin Republican issued this response.
We raised two specific issues. The first was that Ryan's tax proposals are unlikely to generate enough revenue to accomplish his goals, even after he makes major reductions in spending. The second was that, rather than fully analyzing Ryan's Plan, the Congressional Budget Office, at the congressman's request, scored only the spending provisions and simply assumed the tax portion would raise the revenue Ryan claimed.
In his response, Ryan says he asked both CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation to formally score his tax plan, but neither did so. His also lays out his case for why his tax plan would raise the amount of revenue he projects–about 19 percent of GDP.
I hope we can all keep the discussion going on this critical issue.
Why would Elmendorf claim in his letter to Ryan that Ryan's staff asked him not to score the entire tax plan?
The simple solution to the question is for the TPC to both score the Ryan revenue proposals and to come up with alternatives which would actually accomplish Ryan's goals. Alternatives could also be put forward on how to avoid any cuts (in other words, what tax increases are necessary to avoid Ryan cuts) and how to do what he wants with a mix of tax increases and budget cuts.
The key question to consider when thinking about Ryan is whether he is correct that limiting the subsidy for senior health care will limit the cost. This is only true if health care is a “normal good.” However, if the market has people seeking care first and worrying about the cost later, the ability to reign in cost is limited.
I don't get it. It sounds like two entirely different stories. He has one and TaxVox has one. I sure would like to know which one is a lie.