As many people have pointed out, it's not the taxes it's the spending that is causing the deficit. Cutting what people pay to the federal government is nice, but unless it is accompanied by large scale, realistic cuts in federal spending then it's merely a gimmick. And if nothing else in this campaign, Perry has shown himself great at gimmicks.
“Those who don’t pay taxes under the current plan will use that and continue not to pay taxes. Those who would pay less under the new plan will use that and cut their tax burden. It does nothing to widen the tax base and does nothing except reduce the tax receipts.”
The intention of most conservatives going back to Reagan is to REDUCE the tax burden, not increase it. It was proven by JFK in the 60s, Reagan in the 80s, and Bush in the early 2000s that cutting taxes stimulates economic growth, which in turn INCREASES tax receipts. I see no reason why this plan can’t produce similar results, especially since he also eliminates capital gains and dividends taxes, which is a very smart thing to do if you want to spur investment and create jobs.
As for spending, part of Perry’s plan is to reduce spending to 18% of GDP, from the current levels of around 25%. This would put us back to spending levels of the late 1990s, when we were running budget surpluses.
As for Perry overall, there are a few issues to be concerned about, but I don’t believe his economic plan is one of them.