Cain says to lower income taxes to 9 percent. Then also have the other two “9s”
Sounds good, but wary voters have noted that it leaves the income tax and the IRS in place and these levels could be adjusted upward.
There are also technical problems with people being helped and others being hurt by the plan as Cain proposed it. States that have sales taxes already, and people that don’t now pay any income tax. Suppose you don’t pay income tax and you already pay a state sales tax. Oops, right off the top you start paying a 9 percent income tax and a 9 percent federal sales tax.
On the flip side, I read where the plan could include rebates to low income people against their state sales taxes...literally, a check in their mail box. But if you made just slightly over the rebate line, wow, you’re just out of luck. Your taxes jump, much less do you get a check in the mail.
I’m not schooled in Cain’s plan, but these are things I’ve read on this site.
Sounds like it would take a 67% vote of Congress to adjust anything upwards. Other measures could be included too. Somebody suggested that the legislation could require a nationwide vote in order for the system to be altered.
I’m not sure how it would work for the elderly/retired or people with disabilities who pay no taxes because their entire income is from the government, and have no way of earning income. In the long run the federal sales tax may be offset because the companies won’t have to pass along the hidden federal taxes and so prices could be reduced and the same amount of money would buy the same amount of goods or services. But that would take time to adjust.
The slightly-over-the-line problem is always an issue. We make just slightly too much to get free school lunches so if I was willing to let the government pay the way I could quit my job and we’d end up with the same amount of money and less hassle.
So you're looking for a candidate who will promise a new tax code and promise that it can never be changed by future Congresses? You want a dictator?