Will Mitt Romney's 'pro-rich' tax plan revive his campaign?

With his presidential bid faltering, the former governor tries to win over the Right with a conservative-friendly plan to slash and abolish a number of taxes

Mitt Romney wants to overhaul the tax code by slashing all individual tax rates by 20 percent, and abolishing the estate tax and alternative minimum tax.
(Image credit: Porter Gifford/Corbis)

Hours after President Obama rolled out his plan to overhaul the U.S. tax code on Wednesday, Mitt Romney unveiled his own proposal, pledging to cut all individual tax rates by 20 percent, abolish the estate tax and alternative minimum tax, and reduce corporate taxes — all, he says, without adding to the deficit. Romney is angling to bring the focus of the Republican presidential race back to economic issues, and away from the social issues that have been fueling the surge of rival candidate Rick Santorum. And the former Massachusetts governor's tax-slashing plan "essentially endorses the goals of the pro-rich Right," says Jonathan Chait at New York. Will that help Mitt — or hurt him?

Mitt can win conservatives by going "the full Reagan": Romney's new plan isn't as "bold and aggressive" as those pitched by his GOP rivals, says James Pethokoukis at the American Enterprise Institute, but it has "a much better chance of actually being enacted by the next Congress." Conservatives who have been unwilling to accept Romney should take a second look: Between slashing taxes and spending and reforming entitlements, GOP nominee Romney "would certainly be running on the boldest GOP agenda since Reagan '80, maybe ever."

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