At his budget rollout Tuesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) declined to pinpoint which tax loopholes he would use to make his large tax cuts revenue neutral, when asked about the argument that he would have to raise taxes on the middle class to achieve his targets.
“This is what the Ways and Means Committee is going to do,” he said. “As you probably know, the Ways and Means Committee has set up working groups. The Ways and Means Committee is doing hearing after hearing going through the tax code and trying to figure out a better tax system. Our goal is to have a two bracket system that actually is pro-growth. And what that means is closing down loopholes, maintaining important ones — that we’re going to have hearings on to find out which ones are the more important ones for middle income taxpayers.
“You can actually plug loopholes and subject more of higher earners’ income to taxation through a lower tax rate. We think that’s smarter.”
