PolitiFact Looks at Paul Ryan-Related Claims
Mitt Romney has actually proposed his own, adjusted version of Ryan's tax plan, under which he would pay taxes on his capital gains. Photo by monkeyz_uncle, flickr.com/photos/djbrandt.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A Texas Democratic consultant says Romney boasted he would pay no taxes under Ryan’s tax plan at a debate this year. To sort out whether this is true, KUT’s Nathan Bernier spoke with Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman’s fact-checking team, PolitiFact Texas.
In a tweet we spotted this week, Paul Begala suggested that Romney saw personal gain in raising Ryan’s profile. Begala wrote on Twitter, ‘So that’s why he picked him. In January debate, Romney said of Ryan tax plan, “Under that plan, I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years.”’
It turns out, Romney, in that debate was not speaking to Ryan’s tax plan at all. But, he did say such words. We found the remark in the Republican presidential debate of Jan. 23. It was in Tampa, Fla. When he spoke then, he was criticizing the tax ideas of then candidate Newt Gingrich. After Gingrich confirmed that he’d seek a 0 percent tax rate on capital gains, Romney replied, ‘Under that plan, I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years.’
But Selby says that Romney has proposed his own tax plan, adapted from Ryan’s, under which he would pay taxes on his capital gains.
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