GOP Pushes Budget With Tax Cuts, $500B Deficit

Alternative budget overhauls Medicare but repeals Obama spending
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 1, 2009 11:25 AM CDT
GOP Pushes Budget With Tax Cuts, $500B Deficit
House Budget Committee ranking Republican Paul Ryan, right, asks a question during a hearing earlier this month on Capitol Hill.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

House Republicans are pushing an alternative budget plan that would cut income tax rates and radically overhaul Medicare, the AP reports. The plan unveiled today by Paul Ryan of Wisconsin also freezes overall spending on domestic programs and repeals most of the spending in President Obama's recently passed economic stimulus bill. Despite the reductions, the plan projects permanent deficits exceeding $500 billion into the future, fueled largely by big tax cuts.

The GOP plan would offer couples the option of a 10% rate on the first $100,000 of income, with a 25% rate thereafter. On Medicare, workers under 55 would receive premium subsidies equal to the average Medicare benefit when they retire.
(More budget stories.)

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