Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan has defended the Romney campaign’s decision not to detail exactly which tax loopholes the Republican presidential candidate would close, saying such specific details would hurt the chances of accomplishing the goal.
“We want to get it done,” Ryan told
CBN’s David Brody during an interview at this weekend’s Values Voters Summit.
Ryan pointed out that he has sat on the House Ways and Means Committee for 12 years and is “very familiar with how to make successful tax reforms take place.”
He said Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neil managed reform in 1986. “But we haven’t done it since 1986 for lots of reasons, which is we don’t want to presume to say, ‘Here’s exactly our way or the highway. Take it or leave it Congress,’ “ he told Brody.
“We want to say this is our vision, lower tax rates across the board for families and small businesses and work on the loopholes that are enjoyed by the higher income earners, take away their tax shelters so more of their income is subject to taxation.”
Ryan said a Romney administration would have to work with Congress to get the loopholes closed and, in turn, lower general tax rates.
“We don’t want to cut some backroom deal like they did with Obamacare where we hatched some plan behind the scenes and then spring it on the country,” he said.
“We want to do this in front, in the public, through congressional hearings with Congress so that we can get to the best conclusion with a public participation. That’s the process that works the best to ultimate success [and] gets this done. That’s why we’re doing it this way.”
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