Posted on 10/19/2011 10:09:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Tthe Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore, who helped design Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan, is having second thoughts about the political viability of the national sales tax aspect of the plan and has recommended a 9 percent payroll tax to replace it.
In an interview with National Review Online, Moore explains that he has “come to the conclusion that a national sales tax is just a nonstarter,” politically. While he wasn’t expecting such a hostile reaction to the idea, Moore concedes that “people are naturally suspicious of a new tax.”
Cain’s current plan would eliminate the payroll tax altogether, and he often touts this as a selling point. However, enthusiasm over the elimination of an existing tax has been overshadowed by concern over the prospect of creating an entirely new revenue source for the federal government. Indeed, as Cain’s poll numbers have continued to rise and other candidates have begun to target him, the “new tax” argument has been a favorite line of attack.
Moore recommends as easy fix — set the payroll tax at 9 percent across the board (a reduction from current levels), while eliminating the existing cap on the amount of income from wages that can be taxed. Moore estimates that this new version of the plan would raise “roughly the same amount” of revenue as the current one, and argues that Cain would be “well-advised” to make the change. It is simply a matter of being “better off with the devil we know than the devil we don’t know.”
That’s not to say that Moore no longer likes the 9-9-9 plan in its current form. “I’d take a national sales tax if it gets [income-tax] rates down to nine percent,” he says. “But there are some very real objections out there.”
Moore acknowledges that despite the criticism from other Republicans, Cain has been a capable defender of the plan its current form. And while he doesn’t expect to see the candidate announce any changes in tonight’s debate, Moore thinks the transition could be relatively smooth. “Is it a capitulation? No. It’s just a strategic change,” he says.
“Republican voters want to blow up the current tax system and start over, and Herman Cain is one of the few who has proposed doing that,” Moore says. “He has the boldest plan out there right now.”
I don’t like any plan which extends federal tentacles into every purchase at every cash register. Far too enabling of bureaucratic expansion, far too nosy, far too capable of per-product & per-customer manipulation.
Better to have the feds just send each state a bill once a year; let the states figure out how they’ll come up with that money. Reduce the IRS to a couple guys writing 50 bills and cashing 50 checks for a few days a year.
Let us hope that Mr. Cain’s staff of advisers has not been penetrated by a saboteur. But Mr. Cain’s main driver does not have two legs because He doesn’t need them. And He is never wrong.
12-12 is too much. 10 Sales Tax on final sales only, and 10 corporate & personal income only.
That 9-9-9 plan is pure horse manure!
We need a national sales tax like we need oh, I dunno, a Kenyan president!
And I ran the numbers a few days ago: without any unusual deductions, except putting the maximum allowable in my 401k, my wife and I paid income tax amounting to 8.7% of my UNadjusted gross income of just over $135,000 last year.
So Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan would be a massive increase in taxes to me!
What would that do to pre-tax benefit contributions? They’d be taxed?
What about the contractual agreement between me and my employer that the contributions are pre-tax?
Cain’s Stimulating 9-9-9- Plan (Laffer)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576637310315367804.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Why I Support Herman Cain For President (Charles Kadlec joins Cain’s economic team)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2795074/posts
Reagan Economist Breaks Down 999 Plan
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1217420754001/reagan-economist-breaks-down-999-planReagan
Backing for Cain’s plan also came from Kevin Hassett, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute also praised the Cain’s proposal for moving towards a flat tax. “If someone’s going to attack the 9-9-9 plan, I would say they should be careful because you are talking about the Republican holy grail,” he told the Associated Press.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Cain-999-tax-plan/2011/10/14/id/414487
Rich Lowrie Discusses Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKkDcDmf7I
Paul Ryan Likes Cain’s Plan
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46850
Dick Morris Defends 999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuikrVmN6Yo&feature=feedu
How is Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Good for America
https://sites.google.com/site/giveemcain/home
Club for Growth defends Herman Cain, 9-9-9 plan
Club for Growth President Chris Chocola called the 9-9-9 “an outline for a more prosperous and globally competitive America,” saying it is “both pro-growth and a good starting point on the way to a flat or fair tax.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65967.html#ixzz1alhFr6NM
Can Herman Cain’s Plan work?
http://axdwhiteman.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102%3Acan-herman-cains-999-plan-work
Why We Need Herman Cain’s plan:
http://www.nerds4cain.com/Blog/archives/759
Office of Tax Analysis for the U.S. Treasury Gary Robbins analyzed and scored his plan. Cain said the analysis shows that his plan will “initially create 6 million jobs and that it will bring the unemployment rate down initially to about half of what it is today.”
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/09/22/fox-first-cain-reveals-his-economic-secret-kitchen-cabinet#ixzz1aaTbfWLN
What do these numbers mean for me?
http://www.nerds4cain.com/Blog/archives/723
53% of People Favor Tax Code that Treats Taxpayers Equally
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/taxes/october_2011/53_favor_tax_code_that_treats_all_taxpayers_equally
Embedded taxes
http://www.ipi.org/ipi%5CIPIPublications.nsf/0/3F31DF6F0D040EE986256AB700630B84/$File/PR160-HiddenTax-FINAL.pdf?OpenElement
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Calculators:
Income: http://raisingcain2012.wordpress.com/about/
Sales Tax: http://www.999calculator.net
Truth is Government employees don’t pay tax in the first place, it is an illusion, because the money all comes out of the same taxpayer pot in the first place, it works sort of like Union Dues. Corporations likewise pay no tax, they collect tax for the government.
Someone should make a definitive study of the imbedded tax in every product. Cain made a half hearted attempt to illustrate that in the cost of a loaf of bread.
If he had used actual figures that showed the cost before and after the current imbedded tax and the 9% sales tax. Should be easy to illustrate, if what he claims is true, and I believe it is.
Nice work
The NRST, with a repeal of the power to tax income,
should be THE end game,
with 999 just being the intermediate way to get there.
You do realize that you are paying both of these right?
Why? Because the bulk of their welfare whore voters pay little or no taxes now!
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