Rudy Giuliani recently released his new tax plan, and has touted it as the most pro-growth tax cut of any GOP presidential candidate. There is only one problem with the former Mayor’s statement, the tax plan he released is identical to the plan which Fred Thompson released months ago! Here is Giuliani’s tax plan as described at townhall.com:

• Make permanent the bush tax cuts NOW…not in 2010
• Permanently index the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and then eliminate it when practical (no timetable).
• Get rid of the Death Tax
• Lower the capitol gains and dividend rate to 10% and index to inflation
• Lower corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%
• Trio of tax free savings accounts – Roth style – available to ALL income classes.
• Tax simplification strategy – one page tax return
• Three rates – 10% (40k), 15% (150k), and 30% (150k ).

And here is Fred Thompson’s Tax Plan:

• Permanently Extend the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts
• Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax
• Permanently Repeal the Death Tax
• Reduced tax rates on capital gains and qualified dividends.
• Reduce the Corporate Tax Rate
• The simplified tax code would contain two tax rates: 10% for joint filers on income of up to $100,000 ($50,000 for singles) and 25% on income above these amounts

The only notable difference between the two plans is that Giuliani’s plan contains 3 tax rates, while Thompson’s contains only two. Other than that they appear to be mirror images of each other. Fred Thompson released his tax plan months ago, and has run his entire campaign based on issues as opposed to rhetoric, for this he has been lambasted by the media as being lazy. Despite his overwhelming grass roots support, his overall poll numbers have been lagging largely due to media outlets declaring he has no chance of winning.

He appears to be the medias favorite punching bag of all the Republican candidates with criticisms about how he has run his campaign. He was criticized for skipping New Hampshire, even though it was known to be a McCain - Romney race there. Giuliani meanwhile has received a free pass from the media for skipping all races, including Iowa and Wyoming (where Thompson campaigned and did fairly well).

For those of us who care more about issues than sound bytes, Thompson’s campaign, although having it’s faults, has performed well. He has currently setup shop in South Carolina and pushing for at least a second place finish there, although I am not sure anything short of a first place finish will gain him the media attention he deserves. As the race stands now, Thompson is running fourth overall with 6 delegates but needs a big push in South Carolina if he intends to hold that spot going into super Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Election 2008, Features, Fred Thompson, Media, Politics, Taxes