Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Mitt Romney’s choice as vice presidential running mate, said he planned to release two years of tax returns to the public, even though he submitted several more years of tax returns to the Romney campaign during the vetting process.
Asked by Bob Schieffer on “
Schieffer asked how many years of tax returns he plans to release to the public and Ryan responded, “I'm going to be releasing two, which is what he’s releasing,” referring to Romney.
Ryan and Romney were also asked about their plans for tax reform. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan has advocated reducing tax rates for both individuals and businesses. He has called for having just two tax rates of 10 percent and 25 percent for individuals, and replacing the corporate income tax with a business consumption tax of 8.5 percent.
During the interview, Ryan also called for taking away tax shelters. “What we’re saying is take away the tax shelters that are uniquely enjoyed by people in the top tax brackets so they can’t shelter as much money from taxation, should lower tax rates for everybody to make America more competitive,” he said.
Romney’s own tax plan would cut the top tax rate to 28 percent, but he said during the interview that the wealthy would continue to pay the highest share of taxes.
“Well, fairness dictates that the highest income people should pay the greatest share of taxes, and they do,” said Romney. “And the commitment that I’ve made is we will not have the top income earners in this country pay a smaller share of the tax burden. The highest income people will continue to pay the largest share of the tax burden and middle-income taxpayers, under my plan, get a break. Their taxes come down. So, we’re not going to reduce taxes for high-income people, and we are going to reduce taxes for middle-income people.”
