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Obama Cites 'Independent, Non-Partisan Study' Written by Former Staffer, Close Ally "This wasn’t my staff," Obama insists.
1:14 PM, Aug 1, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER
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President Obama cited an "independent, non-partisan study" in Mansfield, Ohio earlier today:
"And you do not have to take my word for it," said Obama. "Just today, an independent, non-partisan organization ran all the numbers on Governor Romney’s plan. This wasn’t my staff. This wasn’t something we did. Independent group, ran the numbers."
The president is right, up to a point: The study was not written by an Obama staffer, but by a former Obama staffer--and a close ally.
The study, titled “ On The Distributional Effects Of Base-Broadening Income Tax Reform,” was written by Samuel Brown, William Gale, and Adam Looney.
As Looney's biography page at the Brookings Institution states, "Looney was the senior economist for public finance and tax policy with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and has been an economist at the Federal Reserve Board."
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