Fact Check: Perry's dubious tax promise

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In his speech unveiling his proposed "flat tax" overhaul of the tax system, Rick Perrypromised that "taxes will be cut across all income groups in America." But a newly released analysis of his plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that many lower-income persons and families would see their taxes go up.

In his Oct. 25 "Cut, Balance, Grow" speech, Perry said a beefed up standard deduction assured lower- and middle-class residents would see a tax break.

And in a Fox News Sunday interview on Oct. 30, Perry assured host Chris Wallace, "Everybody gets a tax cut here. Everybody gets a tax cut here."

But that's not true for everyone, even though the Perry plan would result in a dramatic decrease in overall revenues, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis. The Tax Policy Center predicts that Rick Perry's "flat tax" plan would amount to a tax cut of $570 billion in its first year after enactment, compared with current tax rates. More than half the benefits would flow to persons making more than $1 million a year.

"The Perry plan would reduce federal tax revenues dramatically," the Tax Policy Center said in a report posted Oct. 31. "Relative to a current policy baseline, the reduction in liability would be roughly $570 billion in calendar year 2015." And compared with "current law," under which all the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts would expire, the loss in revenue would be close to $1 trillion in 2015, a reduction of 27 percent in projected revenue.

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