Democrat co-chairman for President Obama’s debt commission Erskine Bowles recently campaigned in Portland on behalf of Independent U.S. Senate candidate and former Governor Angus King.  Although King has campaigned as a middle-of-the-road candidate, by supporting the plan put forward by Bowles, also known as the Simpson-Bowles Plan, King officially supports a $5 trillion tax hike.

According to the Simpson-Bowles co-chair report, the revenue target of their proposal is to “cap revenue at or below 21 percent of GDP.” This figure is significantly higher than the historical tax revenue burden of around 18.5 percent of GDP.

If the Simpson-Bowles tax revenue target was in place for ten years, it would raise $5 trillion in additional revenue, or taxes, paid by American taxpayers and businesses.

Given the significant costs of this plan, King’s support for Simpson-Bowles should concern the sensibilities of hardworking Mainers. During the campaign event with Bowles, King noted, “Sometimes you’ve just got to step up and do the right thing and understand that people aren’t going to be happy about it.”

“Angus King is absolutely correct that people aren’t going to be happy about the Simpson-Bowles Plan and that’s because the plan is a $5 trillion tax increase,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.  “His support for the Simpson-Bowles Plan demonstrates that when it comes to taxes, King stands with Democrats like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.”

“When you raise taxes, you get lousy economic growth and you hurt any chance of a legitimate economic recovery. Now is not the time to concede defeat on the fight of our lifetime, the fight to rein in the oversized federal government that spends and taxes too much,” continued Norquist.

[PDF of Press Release]

Posted by Paul Blair on Thursday, September 20, 2012 12:47 PM EDT

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