Romney tax plan attacked

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney's tax plan for the United States has come under attack from President Bill Clinton and Bruce Bartlett, a veteran of the Reagan administration.

Clinton, in an ad for President Obama's campaign, said the Republican presidential nominee is using dubious math, Salon reported. Clinton charged an across-the-board tax cut combined with an end to some deductions and a closing of loopholes will end up as another cut for those with the highest incomes.

"We simply cannot afford to give another round of tax cuts to people who got the benefit of the tax cuts and the economic growth of the last decade. It hasn't worked before, and it won't work this time," Clinton says in the commercial.

Bartlett, an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan and his successor, George H.W. Bush, analyzed Romney's plan in an opinion piece in The Fiscal Times.

"His basic problem is that he has made three key promises that are in conflict with each other," Bartlett said. "He has said he will cut statutory tax rates by 20 percent across the board, that he will eliminate enough tax deductions to keep total revenues the same as they would otherwise be, and he will maintain the existing distribution of taxation among income classes."

Bartlett said there will still be a large "net tax cut" for those with the highest incomes even if Romney ends all deductions for people in that bracket. That would mean either adding to the deficit or raising taxes for those with lower incomes.

The Democratic National Committee also took a shot. The party put up a website at http://www.romneytaxplan.com/, urging people to get a detailed explanation of the plan by clicking on the "get the details" button, which keeps moving.