Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wassserman Schultz
slammed Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's tax plan,
saying his flat tax proposal would benefit the wealthiest Americans at
the expense of the middle class and increase the deficit.
"My reaction to Rick Perry's new/old plan is that the definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result," said Wasserman Schultz on MSNBC Tuesday.
Perry, the Texas governor, laid out a sweeping overhaul to the
nation's tax code, entitlements and way of budgeting Tuesday. He
called for an optional 20 percent flat tax, a privatized option for
Social Security and a hike in the eligibility age for Social Security
and Medicare.
"This is not a new idea, this is not something that's proposed for the
first time. A flat tax has been introduced in the past and it's been
rejected because it blows a hole in the deficit," she added.
Wassserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, said she believes
Perry's plan will exclusively benefit the wealthiest Americans without
helping the middle class.
"This proposal not only does nothing for them, it just leaves them out
in the cold and focuses on the same trickle down economics," said
Wasserman Schultz in reference to Americans making between $50,000 and
$500,000 a year.
She told MSNBC her constituents are not concerned about dividends,
capital gains, or estate taxes, but rather their annual income.
For more on Perry's economic proposal on The Hill's Ballot Box blog,
click here.
Wasserman Schultz also weighed-in on Perry's recent "birther" comments.
In an interview that aired on CNBC Tuesday Perry expanded on the
comments he made to Parade magazine over the weekend, in which he said
he wasn't sure whether Obama is an American citizen.
He called keeping the issue of whether President Obama was born in the
United States alive "fun."
Many political commentators said delving into this topic was
distracting to his economic campaign message.
"I think it's clear whether it's Rick Perry or Mitt Romney that they
think that politics is a cynical game," said Wasserman Schultz.
