Greg Sargent at The Plum Line, commenting on the tax reform proposal put forth by Republican members of the SuperCommittee:

. . . the highest tax rate would be reduced from 35 percent to 28 percent under the emerging GOP tax code overhaul proposal, the senior Democratic aide tells me. And the reduction would actually be even bigger than this. After all, if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire, as they’re set to do, the high end rate would go up to at least 39 percent. In other words, the aide says, under the proposal Republicans are pushing, the drop down to 28 percent would be at least 10 percentage points from what it would be if the cuts are allowed to expire. This, in exchange for around $300 billion in new revenues through the closing of loopholes.

In other words, the deficit would go up. The new revenues would include limits on the home-mortgage deduction, among other things. Good luck with that.

It’s knee-jerk with these guys. Taxes for the wealthy are too high and must be reduced!