President Obama took on Mitt Romney’s tax proposals at the town hall debate, declaring that math for Romney’s proposed tax cuts does not add up — and saying that Romney himself would not accept such a business proposition.
“Gov. Romney was a successful investor,” Obama said, turning to Romney. “If somebody came to you with a plan that said, ‘Here, I want to spend $7 trillion or $8 trillion, and we’re going to pay for it — but we can’t tell you until maybe after the election how we’re going to do it — you wouldn’t have taken such a sketchy deal.
“And neither should you, the American people, because the math doesn’t add up. And what’s at stake here is one of two things. Either, Candy [Crowley], this blows up the deficit — because keep in mind, this is just to pay for the additional spending that he’s talking about — 7 trillion or 8 trillion, that’s before we even get to the deficit we already have. Alternatively it has to be paid for not only by closing deductions for wealthy individuals — that will pay for about 4% reduction in tax rates — you’ll be paying for it, you’ll lose some deductions.
“You can’t buy this sales pitch. Nobody who’s looked at it, that’s serious, actually believes it adds up.”