Ryan: Lower taxes for those making $150K

CLINTON, Iowa, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- GOP U.S. vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said Tuesday the tax plan he supports would result in a "net tax liability reduction" for those earning $150,000.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Clinton, Iowa, Ryan said the tax plan he and presidential nominee Mitt Romney propose would lower tax rates for all income levels by 20 percent, while mostly limiting deductions for "those at the top end, and then get rid of all those sort of nook and cranny tax expenditures."

Tax expenditures is a technical term that generally refers to tax code provisions resulting in tax exemption for what might otherwise be taxable income.

"We need a cleaning of the tax code and you can do this without raising taxes on middle-class taxpayers," Ryan said.

He said the Romney-Ryan plan would subject higher-income earners' income to more taxation by removing tax shelters, resulting in lower deductions and more of that income subject to taxation, "so you can lower tax rates for everybody across the board and can shelter the middle class from any kind of tax increase."

Asked whether someone earning $150,000 per year would benefit from the plan, Ryan said, "You're going to have a net tax rate reduction and a net tax liability reduction."

It was not clear whether Ryan was indicating $150,000 would represent a line dividing middle class from higher-income earners and he declined once again to say specifically which deductions might be eliminated.