“If we can’t depend on this, then WE’RE SCREWED BIG TIME.”
Fair point. But a) strictly speaking, Cain’s plan is unconstitutional. The federal government is not constitutionally permitted to levy a sales tax. The only reason an income tax is allowed is because of the 16th amendment; b) leaving aside constitutional constraints, I’d be comfortable with Cain’s plan if and only if we first repealed the 16th amendment and then also passed a balanced budget amendment that capped total government spending at some reasonable fraction of GDP (e.g., 25% for F, S, L sounds nice). Otherwise, the criticism of several of the candidates last night is correct: Cain’s plan simply opens up 2 new massive spigots of federal revenue.
Congress has that power now, there is nothing in 9-9-9 that gives them any more power then they currently have right now.
9-9-9 actually makes it much harder to raise taxes. Since everyone pays, everyone knows any tax hike will be paid by them personally.
9-9-9 eliminates ALL the current loopholes Congress currently has in the Tax Code to favor this or that group. It also eliminates any ability to pass off goverment spending as someone else paying for what you are getting. Since everyone pays, everyone knows they will pay more to "get stuff" from the Government.
So find a new attack line cause that one is completely baseless.