GOP proposals to prevent the country going over the so-called “fiscal cliff” are flawed because they have the effect of raising taxes, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Group says.
But the Republican plans are “1,000 times better” than those proposed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Jordan said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.
Still, they are far from perfect, he said.
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“The problem I have with the Republican proposal is that it does raise taxes,” said the Ohio congressman.
“The thing we need is economic growth and you’re not going to grow the economy, you’re not going to put in place a framework that’s conducive to job creation, if you’re raising taxes.”
Jordan, who has just won election to his fourth term in Congress, said the GOP plan to get rid of tax deductions is really a tax increase in another guise.
“If we’re actually going to get rid of credits and deductions and the loopholes at the same time we’re lowering rates and not increasing the overall tax burden — well that’s actually a Reaganesque tax reform proposal that makes sense,” he said.
“That would be conducive to growing our economy and getting us on that path towards higher percentage economic growth.
“But just to do it to say we’re going to get rid of loopholes or we’re going to limit deductions for wealthier Americans to a certain dollar amount, $25,000, $50,000 whatever the number happens to be, I’m against that because that’s just a tax increase by a different name and that’s not helpful to economic growth.”
Jordan scoffed at the White House proposal as outlined by Geithner.
“That was just a ridiculous proposal that came from the White House with all of the tax increases, all of the additional stimulus spending,” said the Ohio congressman. “I would argue the things that have kept our economy from growing in the first place.
“The focus has to be on what’s going to grow our economy and solve the problem,” he said.
Jordan accepts that no Republican wants to place a higher tax burden on the American people, but does not believe that is the way the president sees it.
“It’s unfortunate, but think about the president last week. He goes to Pennsylvania and tells the audience there to tweet your congressmen and tell them to raise taxes. If that’s the way he wants to operate he is pointing towards taking us over the so-called cliff.
“I actually don’t want to go there but the most important thing is, as I’ve said several times, we should not raise taxes.
“You don’t compromise on taxes,” Jordan added. “That doesn’t solve the problem.
“You go talk to even people who voted for President Obama and ask them a simple question, do you think the federal government — the inefficient, bureaucratic, redundant, wasteful federal government — do you actually think it needs more of your tax dollars?
“Even people who voted for President Obama will say ‘of course not, it’s the federal government. What it needs is to get a handle on spending.’ Voters instinctively understand that it’s not a revenue problem, the fact that the government doesn’t tax enough, it is a spending problem here in Washington.”
Jordan said the introduction of Obama’s healthcare proposals will increase taxation anyway, so the last thing the American public wants is even more.
He cited the example of a medical device company close to his own district. “They have told us it’s an $8 million hit, an $8 million additional tax that they’re going to have to pay.
“So you’ve got all of these new taxes already scheduled to kick in and now this administration wants even more taxes on top of those. Again, what we need is economic growth.”
See other exclusive excerpts from the Newsmax interview with Rep. Jim Jordan:
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