The only deduction he has said, when discussing the details of the plan, is under sales tax is “used” items, and under income tax “charitable contributions”.
You are right, not all the details are not listed on the brochure you linked to - because it is a KISS principle.
He plans to roll out his detailed version in the near future so I am sure that will answer a lot of questions.
Even then, I am sure Cain is also going to tweak the plan as time goes on. He is talking and LISTENING to a lot of brilliant minds out there on this as well as what the people say.
How complex is it to add to his website "used items exempt from sales tax"?
So long as "tweaking" doesn't turn into pandering for votes.
I'm not a fan of FairTax, because I am a tightwad saver, and FairTax crushes people who have saved their money (it was taxed as income, and now it will be taxed when I spend it).
But the idea of fighting for a 9-9-9 plan which even Cain admits is not a good plan but just a step on the path to FairTax doesn't really interest me. The current tax system is overly complex, but I happen to think a graduated income tax isn't the horror some claim it to be. We need to eliminate deductions and lower the rates. Cain won't be eliminating the income tax anyway, just lowering the rates, and then we'll have a national sales tax applying to all the money I was taxed on and put in my bank account.
I'll explain that in more detail. I save money. I've been taxed at the high income tax rates. I put my after-tax money in my checking account, and my savings account, and in various other investments. Later, I want to spend it -- and right now, there is no federal tax on my spending.
But under Herman Cain's plan, all that money I saved, which I plan to eventually spend, will be taxed at 9%.
So the Herman Cain plan includes a 9% tax on savings, when you decide to USE the savings. That raises my tax on income I made in the past by 9%.
I haven't figured out how you exempt current savings, but that is what is essential to make the plan fair. Unfortunately, it would require some sort of nationwide "census" of exactly how much post-tax money everybody has in their accounts on the day the 9-9-9 plan takes effect, and some way of tranlsating that into deductions or rebates we would get back each year, requiring that we hold onto our sales tax receipts and claim a refund.
There is nothing in the Cain plan about this now, I guess I'll have to hope he adds it. Except I know there is NO CHANCE his plan will pass, so it's really just a freebie he gets to through around to show how he has "ideas". If he is in fact insisting that a 2/3rds vote to change the law is part of the law, it is clear he has no intention of passing it, because that simply isn't possible under our current system of government. You'd need a constitutional amendment, and if you could do that, you might as well go ahead and repeal the income tax amendment, or do an amendment that sets maximum income tax rates.
Frankly, THAT would be a plan I could support -- an amendment to the income tax that says that the highest income tax cannot be more than 3 times the rate of the lowest income tax, and that no more than the bottom 20% of income can be exempt from the tax.