Art Laffer, who served as an economic adviser to former Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, announced his endorsement for Republican candidate Newt Gingrich Tuesday.
Mr. Laffer served on President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board from 1981-1989. He announced his support for Mr. Gingrich with an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal. The former Reagan adviser believes Mr. Gingrich’s tax code reform plan is superior to rival candidate Mitt Romney’s tax plan.
“Mr. Gingrich has a significantly better plan than does Mr. Romney,” wrote Mr. Laffer in the op-ed article. “He has twice before been instrumental in implementing a successful tax plan on a national level—once when he served in Congress as a Reagan supporter in the 1980s and again when he was President Clinton’s partner as speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s. During both of these periods the economy prospered incredibly—in good part because of Mr. Gingrich.”
According to the tax plan posted to his campaign website, Mr. Gingrich is proposing to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 12.5 percent. He would also favor making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and give taxpayers the option of a 15 percent flat tax.
In contrast Mr. Romney’s plan states that he would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, and keep individual tax rates “marginally the same.”
Mr. Gingrich has constantly referred to himself as a “bold Reagan conservative” throughout his primary campaign. During the nationally televised debate on January 19th prior to the South Carolina Republican primary election, Mr. Romney claimed that the former House speaker’s constant references to President Reagan were baseless.
“I looked at the Reagan diary. You’re mentioned once in Ronald Reagan’s diary,” said Mr. Romney. “And in the diary, he says you had an idea in a meeting of young congressmen, and it wasn’t a very good idea and he dismissed it. That’s the entire mention.”
Mr. Laffer’s op ed article appears to contradict those claims from Mr. Romney.
“It doesn’t get any better than Mr. Gingrich’s optional 15% flat tax for individuals and his 12.5% flat tax for business. Each of these taxes has been tried and tested and found to be enormously successful,” wrote Mr. Laffer Tuesday.
Mr. Gingrich is projected to finish in second place, behind Mr. Romney in the Florida Republican primary election Tuesday. The former House speaker told Fox News on Monday that he plans on remaining in the race all the way through the Republican convention this summer.
