Instead Of Taking Common Sense Approach To Deficit Reduction, Connie Mack Protects Millionaire Tax Breaks While Forcing Middle-Class To Foot the Bill 

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Connie Mack IV is doing what the Republicans do best: protecting the wealthiest Americans like Mitt Romney from having to pay their fair share in taxes.  What’s even worse is that instead of taking a common sense approach to cutting the deficit, Mack is protecting millionaires while simultaneously supporting reckless budget priorities that gut Medicare and Pell Grants. 

“Connie Mack IV is on the wrong side of the issues that matter to middle class Floridians,” said Brannon Jordan, Spokeswoman for the Florida Democratic Party.  “It’s clear that Connie Mack IV is more concerned about protecting tax breaks for the Mitt Romneys of the world, than helping the middle-class and taking a common sense approach to cutting the deficit.  Not only is Mack protecting tax loopholes for the rich, but his votes would force middle class families and seniors pay for them by raising Medicare premiums, slashing Pell Grants, and ending investments in infrastructure that create good-paying jobs.”

According to tax policy analysts, the wealthiest Americans are abusing the tax code to skate by without paying their fair share in taxes.  In fact, as recently as 2008, the average effective tax rate for the richest 400 people in the United States was only 18.1%. In addition:

• In 2011, 7,000 millionaires did not pay any federal income taxes.  [Tax Policy Center, 7/13/11]
• Warren Buffett pays an effective tax rate of 17.4%. His secretary pays a tax rate of around 30%.  [Center for Tax Justice, 9/27/11]
• 25% of millionaires pay a lower tax rate than over 10 million Americans.  Tax rules allow “about 94,500 millionaires to pay taxes at a lower rate than 10.4 million ‘moderate-income taxpayers.'”  [Bloomberg, 10/12/11]

Connie Mack voted for the extreme House Republican budget last year that would force Florida seniors to pay $7,383 more for health care each year and end billions in Pell Grants, all while protecting special rules that allow millionaires to pay lower tax rates than middle-class families.  Mack also supports this year’s version of the bill.

Background:

Mack Signed Americans For Tax Reform Pledge, Adherence To Which Required Opposition To Buffett Rule. Rep. Connie Mack IV was a signatory of Americans for Tax Reform’s so-called Taxpayer Protection Pledge. In April 2012, The Hill reported that Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, said that the Buffett Rule would violate the pledge. [Americans for Tax Reform Pledge, accessed 4/10/12; The Hill, 4/9/12]

Mack Voted For Republican Budget Blueprint For FY 2012 That Ends Medicare As We Know It. In April 2011, Mack voted in favor of the House Republican budget blueprint drafted by Paul Ryan that effectively ends Medicare. The budget would allow $2.859 trillion in new budget authority for fiscal 2012, including up to $1.019 trillion in non-emergency discretionary spending. It calls for $659 billion in security spending and $360 billion in non-security spending. It proposes converting the federal share of Medicaid to a block grant to states. It calls for converting Medicare for persons currently younger than 55 into a “premium support system” through which the government would pay private insurance companies directly for each enrollee. It also proposes consolidating the current six tax brackets and cutting the corporate tax rate and the top individual tax rate to 25 percent. It assumes the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts beyond 2012 and projects that the budget deficit would be reduced to $391 billion by fiscal 2021. The resolution was adopted 235-193. [H Con Res 34, Vote 277, 4/15/11; Great Falls Tribune, 4/16/11]

• Mack In April 2011: “Ryan Budget Should Go Further.” In an April 2011 release entitled, “Rep. Mack: Ryan Budget Should Go Further,” Mack said, “The Ryan proposal also lays out a blueprint to save Medicare, save Social Security, reform the job-stifling tax code, repair the welfare safety net, cut wasteful spending, and get the debt under control over the coming decades, but needs to go further to bring our national debt to a zero balance more quickly.” The release stated,  “Congressman Connie Mack today praised the budget proposal from the House Budget Committee and Chairman Paul Ryan as an ‘honest look at where we are in terms of spending priorities,’ but only a good ‘first step’”. [Rep. Mack release, 4/5/11]

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