Taxing The Itemized Deductions Of Top 20 Percent Pays For Romney's Tax Plan Without A Middle Class Tax Increase

From "Martin Feldstein: Romney's Tax Plan Can Raise Revenue: IRS data show that limiting deductions for high earners would more than cover the dollars lost by reducing income-tax rates 20% across the board" by Martin Feldstein:

The IRS data show that taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes over $100,000 (the top 21% of all taxpayers) made itemized deductions totaling $636 billion in 2009. Those high-income taxpayers paid marginal tax rates of 25% to 35%, with most $200,000-plus earners paying marginal rates of 33% or 35%.

And what do we get when we apply a 30% marginal tax rate to the $636 billion in itemized deductions? Extra revenue of $191 billion—more than enough to offset the revenue losses from the individual income tax cuts proposed by Gov. Romney.

Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan, is a professor at Harvard and a member of The Wall Street Journal's board of contributors. He advises the Romney campaign.