Biden blasts Ryan budget plan as tilted toward wealthy

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden Monday launched a broadside at the slashing budget plan of House Republicans, kicking off a campaign to try to raise the profile of GOP budget cuts and income inequality as an election-year issue.

Biden attacked the budget plan by Rep. Paul Ryan — his GOP counterpart on the 2012 vice presidential ballot — as being tilted in favor of the wealthy and shortchanging investments in infrastructure, education and health research. He said it reflects "an orthodoxy that devalued ... paychecks. They tilted the tax code in favor of unearned income, over-earned income, inherited wealth over take-home pay."

Speaking at George Washington University, Biden said Ryan's plan would deliver a huge tax cut to upper-bracket earners while cutting spending on road and port construction, Medicaid care for women in nursing homes, research into a cure for Alzheimer's Disease, and grants to local law enforcement.

Citing a study by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank, Biden said people making more than $1 million a year would win a tax cut averaging $87,000 under the GOP plan, which would drop the top income tax bracket from almost 40 percent to 25 percent. Meanwhile, curbs on tax breaks enjoyed by the middle class like the deduction for mortgage interest would raise taxes on many middle Americans.

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