Congressional Republicans dodge, delay, probably suppressed tax report
Why? Because they disagree with it. So they probably put the screws on the Congressional Research Service — a notably bipartisan agency– to keep a lid on it.
The Congressional Research Service has withdrawn an economic report that found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, a central tenet of conservative economy theory, after Senate Republicans raised concerns about the paper’s findings and wording.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, center, and other Republicans raised concerns with an economic report that questions a central tenet of conservative economic theory.
The decision, made in late September against the advice of the agency’s economic team leadership, drew almost no notice at the time. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, cited the study a week and a half after it was withdrawn in a speech on tax policy at the National Press Club.
But it could actually draw new attention to the report, which questions the premise that lowering the top marginal tax rate stimulates economic growth and job creation.
“This has hues of a banana republic,” Mr. Schumer said. “They didn’t like a report, and instead of rebutting it, they had them take it down.” …NYT
And that’s the interesting part of this. The report has come out now. Now, of course, it discredits the Republicans’ theories about taxes and at the same time it gives them bad publicity just before an election. I hope they feel like they’re boiling in oil. But even more, I hope they boil in oil!
The Post has what looks like bad news for Obama: Ohio once again is moving away from him and towards Romney.
With the move, there are now 95 electoral votes — including Ohio’s 18 — from eight states in our “tossup” category. President Obama has 237 electoral votes either solidly in his camp (186) or leaning his way (51). Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has 206 electoral votes either solidly red (170) or leaning in his direction (36). …WaPo
The Ohio polling Nate Silver has listed at his site today — four polls including Reuters’ — shows Obama maintaining a 3-5 point lead. Earlier today he reported:
Mr. Obama is not a sure thing, by any means. It is a close race. His chances of holding onto his Electoral College lead and converting it into another term are equivalent to the chances of an N.F.L. team winning when it leads by a field goal with three minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. There are plenty of things that could go wrong, and sometimes they will.
But it turns out that an N.F.L. team that leads by a field goal with three minutes left to go winds up winning the game 79 percent of the time. Those were Mr. Obama’s chances in the FiveThirtyEight forecast as of Wednesday: 79 percent.
Not coincidentally, these are also about Mr. Obama’s chances of winning Ohio, according to the forecast. …538