Wonkette

One of the main planks of Ron Paul’s Presidential platform is the long-awaited elimination of the income tax. Paul claims that he can eliminate the income tax, pull us out of all international activities (and eliminate some small pieces of the federal government like the Department of Education) and thereby save the world. Or something. Someone smarter than us runs the numbers after the jump.

Michael Dobbs at the Washington Post (hopefully for him, no relation to Lou) asked Ron Paul’s campaign to let him know how the miracle of income tax elimination could be accomplished without functionally crippling our government (not realizing, perhaps, that for many anti-tax advocates that that’s the point!). The individual income tax brings in $1.2 trillion (of the $2.6 trillion the government takes in overall). If he doesn’t plan on borrowing to make up the budget gap, which he says he doesn’t, then he has to find $1.2 trillion in savings. All the budget cuts Ron Paul proposes? Add up to $280 billion according to Dobbs’ (and the federal government’s) figures.

Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton responded thusly: “President Paul would work with Congress to phase out the income tax and cut budgets to sensible, constitutional levels, focusing foremost on eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars of excessive overseas expenditures.”

In related Paul news, Paultards would like us to know that:

• we are “a crack-pot kook”

• we are unloved by Jesus
• we “will die by [our] own sword”
• we “are enemies of the Republic”
• “After a proper jury trial, you should likely be hanged for Treason against the Republic. You are aiding and abetting the enemies of this Republic.”

We thank you for your kind words, and plan to continue our march on Berlin.