Romney, Gingrich spar over earnings

Top rivals sharpen their words in New Hampshire

Newt Gingrich greeted voters on a campaign stop yesterday at Hollis Pharmacy in Hollis, N.H. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

By Matt Viser and Shira Schoenberg

Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent / December 13, 2011

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For the past year, Mitt Romney has held onto a sizeable lead in New Hampshire, using his adopted home state as a firewall against any insurgent candidate. But with voters heading to the polls just four weeks from today, there are signs that the race is tightening in a way that is giving some Romney supporters pause. Newt Gingrich, within 9 points of Romney in one poll, was asked by a reporter how vulnerable Romney is in New Hampshire. Gingrich said, “We’re all vulnerable everywhere,’’ he said.

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Study hits Gingrich's tax plan

WASHINGTON - The economic plan proposed by Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich would add $1.3 trillion to the budget deficit in 2015 alone, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

The figures compare the federal government’s take under Gingrich’s proposal with projected revenue if current tax law ran its course and existing income tax cuts, including George W. Bush’s tax cuts, expired.

The analysis, released yesterday in Washington, finds that Gingrich’s plan would cut overall taxes for 70 percent of households and cut tax rates for the highest earners.

Gingrich’s plan would create an optional 15 percent flat tax with a per-person deduction of $12,000. He would drop the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent from 35 percent, allow businesses to write off capital expenses, and eliminate taxes on capital gains and estates, according to his website.

People earning more than $1 million a year would receive an average tax cut of $613,689 in 2015, compared with what they pay now. That change would boost their after-tax income by 28.7 percent and put their average tax rate at 11.9 percent.

Gingrich’s plan would cut taxes for people in all income groups and raise them for no one. For households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, 91.3 percent would receive tax cuts averaging $1,847, boosting their after-tax income by 3.1 percent.