Far from the Party of No, some Republicans are offering America a very different agenda. In particular, Rep. Paul Ryan has recently released a platform, called the “Roadmap for America’s Future.” Here’s how George Will describes it:
Ryan’s map connects three destinations — economic vitality, diminished public debt, and health and retirement security.
To make the economy — on which all else hinges — hum, Ryan proposes tax reform. Masochists would be permitted to continue paying income taxes under the current system. Others could use a radically simplified code, filing a form that fits on a postcard. It would have just two rates: 10 percent on incomes up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers; 25 percent on higher incomes. There would be no deductions, credits or exclusions, other than the health care tax credit (see below).
Today’s tax system was shaped by sadists who were trying to be nice: Every wrinkle in the code was put there to benefit this or that interest. Since the 1986 tax simplification, the code has been recomplicated more than 14,000 times — more than once a day. …
Ryan would eliminate taxes on interest, capital gains, dividends and death. The corporate income tax, the world’s second highest, would be replaced by an 8.5 percent business consumption tax. Because this would be about half the average tax burden that other nations place on corporations, U.S. companies would instantly become more competitive — and more able and eager to hire.
Medicare and Social Security would be preserved for those currently receiving benefits, or becoming eligible in the next 10 years (those 55 and older today). Both programs would be made permanently solvent.
Universal access to affordable health care would be guaranteed by refundable tax credits ($2,300 for individuals, $5,700 for families) for purchasing portable coverage in any state. As persons under 55 became Medicare eligible, they would receive payments averaging $11,000 a year, indexed to inflation and pegged to income, with low-income people receiving more support….Compare Ryan’s lucid map to the Democrats’ impenetrable labyrinth of health care legislation.
These ideas deserve a fair hearing and rigorous public debate. Americans need to know that they have a choice: there are two very different visions of where to take the country. As we’ve seen during the past year–and as was made even more clear in the President’s recently released budgets–the Democrats see expanding government as the way to improve the country. Republicans (or at least those represented by Ryan) want to roll back government intervention into the marketplace and in our lives.
It’s not a choice between no or yes, but a choice between two competing agendas.