Laffey's Tax Plan Presentation

Mayor Laffey has a new tax plan, according to the ProJo:

Laffey's proposal would eliminate the tax on estates, interest, dividends, capital gains and Social Security benefits.

He would also lower the highest marginal tax rate -- that paid by the highest wage earners -- to 30 percent. The top federal marginal income tax rate was 39.6 percent when President Bush took office in 2001. Through a series of tax cuts, that top rate has now fallen to 35 percent.

. . . Taxpayers would have their income levied at either 10, 20 or 30 percent -- depending on income levels -- and would be given up to six types of deductions.

Each individual filer or family could claim up to $40,000 in deductions. The standard deduction per person would be $10,000. So a family of four, earning $40,000 would pay no federal income tax.

Others deductions include interest on a mortgage, retirement and education savings, health savings account contributions, charity and state and local taxes but could only be taken to a total write-off of $40,000.

Laffey's theory is this: without a tax on dividends and interest, Americans are more likely to invest and that means growth in the economy.

Meanwhile, Senator Chafee's people fall back on the same context-lacking charge that Mayor Laffey is a tax raiser:

The Chafee campaign attacked the proposal, saying that Laffey's past record shows support for tax hikes.

"When Steve Laffey took over in Cranston, he said he would cut spending by $11 million, but he never got around to doing that," Chafee campaign manager Ian Lang said in a statement. "Now he says he will cut federal spending. When Steve Laffey took over in Cranston, he said he was for tax increases, now he says he's against them. The question is: do Rhode Islanders trust the record or the rhetoric?"

Whatever. Anyway, the Mayor's plan seems good, though it may be short on details right now (according to the story, Mayor Laffey said, "It's not all set in stone."). However, his presentation seems to have been interesting:

Laffey's 45-slide presentation was filled with quotes, images of Frankenstein, Porky Pig and a caricature of Chafee.

Th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!