Herman Cain is no expert on taxes or economics, and I rarely find myself in agreement with Neal Boortz.
The “Fair Tax” is a carefully miscrafted attack on small businesses, and is about as unfair as can be for the nations jobs engine. Nothing is ever going to eliminate tax escapees, and that goal is nothing but cowardly envy.
The affect of the “fair tax” on all business would be at least as arduous as the present system. The true “Flat Tax” is what we need, and should be fighting for. The only deductions that should be allowable are legitimate expenses of operating a business, and the basic cost of feeding and clothing each individual.
“The only deductions that should be allowable are legitimate expenses of operating a business, and the basic cost of feeding and clothing each individual.”
And who’ll decide what are “legitimate expenses” and “basic cost”? Back to loopholes. Some have suggested that the only deductions should be mortgage interest and charitable contributions - period.
Someone who IS an expert in economics (although you may not like him either) is Stephen Moore of the WSJ, and he likes HC’s 999 plan. He was discussing it earlier today. It’s designed on throwing out the tax code, replaces payroll tax, corporate and personal tax, capital gains tax, estate (”death”) tax, encourages repatriation of funds without penalty, eliminates loopholes, is an alternative, minimum tax that’s supposed to save around $430 billion in filing and compliance costs.
I think the biggest key is not to add it on before doing away with current federal income tax code, but HC knows that and has talked about it before. He also thinks of his plan as an interim until we can ultimately end up with a flat tax.