I'll leave to others to tear apart his radical and disastrous agenda-driven dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid.
What galls me the most about the proposal is the alleged "revenue-neutral" wealth redistribution tax reform that Ryan slaps on to this supposed deficit-reduction plan, just for fun.
From the WSJ op-ed he wrote:
Tax reform: This budget would focus on growth by reforming the nation's outdated tax code, consolidating brackets, lowering tax rates, and assuming top individual and corporate rates of 25%. It maintains a revenue-neutral approach by clearing out a burdensome tangle of deductions and loopholes that distort economic activity and leave some corporations paying no income taxes at all.
There's a lot messed up about that statement, but just honing in on his plan to lower all individual income tax rates to 25 percent...
Who would see a tax cut in Ryan's budget?
EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF CONGRESS!
That's right! Currently members of Congress like Paul Ryan are paid a base salary of $174,000 per year.
For this salary, they are currently taxed in the 33 percent income tax bracket, but Ryan's budget would have them taxed instead at the 25 percent rate currently enjoyed by individuals who make between $34,001 and $82,400.
(For more tax bracket info check out the figures at bankrate.com.)
This amounts to a tax cut for members of Congress like Paul Ryan of $13,920 per year!
For Speaker of the House John Boehner, who makes $223,500 per year, who is also currently situated in the 33 percent tax bracket, he will see a base increase in take-home pay of $17,880.
(Someone hand Boehner a tissue when he hears about this)
Now while tens of thousands of dollars more in tax cuts may be great news for Boehner, Ryan and Ryan's Wisconsin Republican cohort Rep. Sean Duffy, who recently whined about how poor he is in comparison to his Congressional colleagues...
THIS IS A HORRIBLE DEAL FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF TAXPAYERS!
Because the vast majority of us taxpayers will see effective tax hikes thanks to the elimination of middle class tax deductions/credits on things like mortgages, college tuition and childcare to make up for the "revenue-neutral" tax cuts for people like Paul Ryan.