Pawlenty Lays Down a Marker with His Economic Plan

It's probably way too early for most people to start thinking about the next presidential election. But, of course, the race is already well under way, with a big focus on the contest for the Republican presidential nomination to see who will square off against President Barack Obama in November 2012.

At this very early stage, it appears from polling that Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, is the GOP frontrunner. Among the declared candidates are Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, business executive and activist Herman Cain, and Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor. And others are considering a run as well.

On June 7, Pawlenty laid down a marker with his economic plan, with tax relief taking center stage.

Romney has yet to offer specifics on his economic agenda. As noted on June 8 in The Caucus, the politics and government blog of The New York Times, "But Mr. Romney has not yet offered many specifics about his plans for the economy. He promised to cap federal spending at 20 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. And he said that as president he would make taxes competitive, create jobs, modernize regulations and reduce bureaucracy. That vagueness has opened the door for Mr. Pawlenty, who vowed on Tuesday to keep federal spending at 18 percent of G.D.P. - lower than Mr. Romney promised - and proposed large and specific tax cuts that would slash business and individual rates to their lowest levels in decades."

The Pawlenty tax plan features the following...

Read the rest of this SBE Council Cybercolumn by chief economist Raymond J. Keating here.