The Top 10 Most Shocking Aspects of Newt Gingrich’s Tax Plan—in Pictures

It’s So Radical and Regressive, You Have to See It to Believe It

SOURCE: AP/Isaac Brekken

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich gives a speech in October 2010.

By Michael Linden and Seth Hanlon | December 15, 2011

PRINT:
• 
SHARE:
• 
• 
• 
• 

Download the charts (pdf)

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s tax plan is so extreme—and so unfair to the middle class—that it’s almost impossible to believe that it comes from a serious presidential candidate from a major political party.

For starters, it would cut taxes for the super-wealthy by so much that the normal adjectives (“dramatically,” “massively,” “enormously”) don’t even apply. At the same time, it would introduce a new level of complexity for many middle-class families who would have to calculate their tax bill twice each year to figure out how much they owe.

But that’s not all. Gingrich would slash the corporate income tax rate down to historically low levels while keeping in place every existing corporate tax loophole and special tax break.

The plan would result in the lowest levels of federal revenue in 70 years and it would lead to perpetual trillion-dollar deficits and an exploding national debt.

What follows is a list of the 10 most shocking, ridiculous, and otherwise-unbelievable aspects of Newt Gingrich’s tax plan—plus one shocking bonus fact at the end.

Download the charts (pdf)

Michael Linden is the Director of Tax and Budget Policy and Seth Hanlon is Director of Fiscal Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.