Today’s column didn’t even mention the tax part of the Ryan plan — 800 words, you know. So, a bit about that.

The Ryan plan calls for cutting the top marginal rate to 25 percent — lower than it has been at any time in the past 80 years. That in itself should tell you that this is a deeply unserious proposal: anyone who tells you that we have to face hard truths, that everyone must sacrifice, and by the way, rich people will pay lower taxes than they have at any time since the 1930s, is just engaged in a power grab.

Beyond that, has anybody besides Bruce Bartlett noticed that Ryan still hasn’t gotten an independent estimate of the revenue losses from his tax plan? Last summer I pointed out that he was getting a free pass on tax cuts that appeared likely to lose a lot of revenue; his defenders came up with all sorts of excuses about how he couldn’t get anyone to do a proper estimate.

But that was 8 months ago, and his plan is now the official plan of the Republican party. At this point, the absence of any independent verification of the claim that he will collect 19 percent of GDP in revenue clearly reflects a deliberate evasive strategy: Ryan and his colleagues don’t want anyone looking at their numbers independently.

The truth is that his plan would almost surely lead to a large rise in the deficit.