Posted on 10/20/2011 6:30:04 AM PDT by shortstop
Actually, 9-9-9 does make sense. It makes perfect sense.
That doesn’t mean that Herman Cain is necessarily the best choice to be the Republican presidential candidate. But it does mean that the vilification of the man and his plan are off base.
First, the tax system is broken. It has been so perverted over the years with the twin evils of redistribution and exemption, that it is inherently unequal and biased. It is on its face a violation of the Declaration’s assertion that “all men are created equal” and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection under law.”
In a nation of equals, the tax system treats people as fundamentally unequal. We pay different percentages of tax, some pay no tax whatsoever; innumerable penalties, credits and deductions incentives or punish any number of behaviors. It is purposefully so murky that the question, “How much tax to Americans pay?” can’t be answered.
The tax system is broken, and it is breaking the country. It is a direct threat to liberty and prosperity, and is an ongoing and irrefutable act of oppression.
Herman Cain is the only candidate directly addressing this, and 9-9-9 is how he’s doing it. The other candidates, instead of trying to blow holes in 9-9-9, should be offering plans of their own.
Until they do, 9-9-9 is the best we have.
And it would be far better than the current system.
Simply put, the Herman Cain plan is that everyone pays 9-percent income tax, businesses pay 9-percent on their profits and all purchases be taxed by the federal government at 9 percent.
Nine-percent income tax, 9-percent business tax, 9-percent federal sales tax.
And everybody is squawking – the Democrats because it is a threat to their constituents’ free ride, the Republicans because it is a threat to their establishment candidates.
Here’s why 9-9-9 is a good idea.
First, income tax. Under Cain’s plan, everybody pays. Right now, 47 percent pay nothing. They have no income-tax liability. They have no skin in the game.
That has almost torn our society in half. Forty-eight percent of American households get some sort of government welfare check. Forty-seven percent of American workers pay no income tax. That means half of Americans produce and half of Americans consume. Half put into the public treasury and help the common good, while the other half take out of the public treasury and are an obstacle to the common good.
This has created the current situation, in which one party stands for the entitled and the other party stands for the taxed. Those who depend on the taxes of others are not grateful for what they receive, they are angry that they don’t receive more. And they vote for candidates – Democrats – who promise to use the power of government to pick other people’s pockets.
Even among those who pay income tax, there is a broad inequity. The more you earn, the higher your tax rate. The less you earn, the lower your tax rate. That scheme punishes success and rewards failure.
And violates any sense of equality our founding documents say we’re supposed to have.
That’s why the first 9 is so important. It requires everyone to pay -- from the wealthiest to the poorest – and it requires them to pay in equal proportion. The amount varies, but the percentage does not. It is flat and fair.
Liberals complain that Herman Cain’s plan would raise the taxes of many Americans. Good. It is supposed to. They need to have their taxes raised. Those who pay nothing should contribute something. Herman Cain makes them do so.
Which echoes the wisdom of Frederick Douglass: Those who hope to enjoy the benefits of citizenship must bear the burdens of citizenship.
Herman Cain’s plan ends free-ride Americans.
The second 9 would dramatically reduce business taxes in this country and immediately make our economy and our products competitive with anyone around the world. It would also lower the rapacious taxes on corporations, thereby making all of our 401Ks more valuable. Business would stop having the life taxed out of it, thereby freeing it to expand, buy and hire more.
All of which is good.
The second 9 would stop the Left’s relentless assault on business – the cornerstone of the Free Enterprise system.
The third 9 has taken a great deal of battering lately. Republican opponents of Herman Cain say that the 9-percent federal sales tax would open the door for even-higher sales-tax rates.
I don’t believe so.
Because you can’t raise the sales tax in the dark.
The two great beauties of the third 9 are that the entire economy – including the illegal economy – comes under the obligation of tax. No pretty dance can keep you away from the taxman. If you buy something, you pay. Like the flat first 9, this democratizes taxes, making everyone an equal partner.
It also moves the issue of federal tax to the front burner. It will always be top of mind. It doesn’t disappear into lines of numbers on your paycheck, it slaps you across the face every time you make a purchase.
One of the reasons the current tax system has become so onerous is that the actual paying of the tax is hidden away, out of our hands, on the other side of a magic tax form. If we don’t see how big the blade is, we don’t feel how far into us it has been shoved into our back.
Herman Cain’s plan changes that.
And if government gets greedier, its efforts to raise a visible and universal tax will be in full public scrutiny – and probably face a full public rejection.
So, yes, Herman Cain’s plan will cost lower-income people more in taxes.
Good.
It will also make each American’s tax burden clear, make all taxpayers equal, and set a fire under American business and the jobs it creates.
Some have said 9-9-9 won’t raise enough money. That it won’t raise enough to pay, for example, this year’s federal budget.
Good.
Because we don’t want to fund this level of federal spending. We want to fund a great deal less. We want to make our government affordable and we want to make our government live within its means.
We don’t need a plan to fund this current cancerous level of overspending. We want to right size our government and give it what it needs.
And 9-9-9 can do that.
Herman Cain may not be your choice for president. But his budget plan is a good one.
And his opponents embarrass themselves and abandon their principle when they attack it.
Herman Cain’s plan ends free-ride Americans.
I can’t buy it. It would be insane to pass a national sales tax without repealing the income tax first. If not, then within 10 years it will be the 20-50-30 plan. Bank it.
I don’t know if 9-9-9 is a great plan, but I do know there is a lot of distorted misinformation out there about it.
9-9-9 is already unravelling. Its defenders should take a pause and see what shakes out. They may need to adjust their talking points.
The tax rate is already at the whims of the elected, why be afraid of some unknown, future bogey-man and let that keep you from making things better right now?
Ah, but Cain just explained he has a secret component to his plan that will protect the low income: he just hasn’t revealed it to his competitors or anyone else yet.
That Herman, isn’t he clever?
5-5-5 is even better after chopping the feds down to size and the passing of a balanced budget amendment.
Kennedy didn’t have all the nuances of the space program figured out when he gave his “man on the moon” challenge, either, but that vision led to unprecedented economic and technological growth. Mr. Cain is doing what all good leaders do - casting a vision and painting with broad strokes. We’re electing a President, not an Economist-in-Chief, and Americans will realize that if it ends up being an 8.9-9.1-8.75 plan, that will be OK too.
I prefer a 12/12 or 15/15 rather than adding that last 9.
Watching Europe go with the Commodity tax and it go up year after year after year until it breaks 20% is what will also happen here.
No way, Jose.
Our founding fathers did not insist, “My way or the highway”, they thought together and worked together to set a great framework.
Cain was treated with kids gloves in the debate. His plan was what was crushed.
He still believes in picking winners and losers via "entitlement zones" as I call them and he even stated on CNN it was specifically for blacks. He said it twice in the same interview.
What about 15-15-15 for say, Silicon Valley or North Dallas and 1-1-1 or 2-2-2 for Detroit or Atlanta?
I don’t really see him being vilified. Most people tend to like him. They are just looking hard at his plan as they should.
People tend to be more sensative about their own candidate. I see Perry being vilified much more.
Actually, it doesn’t. Mr. Cain has already modified his plan to protect the ‘less fortunate.’
When he did that, I realized his plan is a no go.
When he gets through modifying it to pacify certain groups, it won’t be recognizable.
Personally, I like 999, but I also like Warren Buffet’s plan for getting balanced budgets. It’s very simple: Any Congress that ends up with a deficit during the current fiscal year cannot run for reelection. Talk about holding them accountable...
Ditto. Never confuse how much taxes are collected versus how they are collected. Two separate issues. We gotta get excess spending shut off, no matter how they levy taxes on us.
I agree.
There are a few things in it that need fixing or fine tuning but overall it is an improvement. Those Republicans completely trashing it perplex me.
Because I follow history in order to avoid repeating it. You really want to double the government's ability to steal from you? Please show me an example from history where that worked out well for the people.
Good!!!! Whether the plan stays as is or is modified somewhat on the national sales tax portion, he has captured the debate and is going forward. I want the man who can put solutions on the table in a postive way. There’s much much more to Herman Cain than 999, he’s moving the debate in the right direction, not content with the status quo. The very fact that he is shaking up the race while the others play catchup is EXACTLY what I want to see.
They already take what they want; for a while, this plan is fantastic for my bank account.
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