Actually, they come out ahead on the 999 plan because you forgot to subtract the 15.3% payroll tax on the earnings which is eliminated by Cain.
And what about the unemployed? Don’t you care about the unemployed?
Scrapping our ridiculous tax code, lowering business taxes and eliminating taxes on capital will provide an environment for businesses to grow and provide jobs, and encourage businesses to locate in the United States as opposed to overseas.
The overwhelming majority of people don't pay 15.3%, currently they pay 5.65%. Last time I checked 5.65% is less than 9%. Then people will be paying an additional 9% on virtually everything they buy. An average family of 4 earning the median family income of $49,500 will probably see their taxes more than double under Cain's plan.
I must “Meet the New Math” you are using.
Cut or eliminate income taxes; levy sales tax instead.
Tax my ability to BUY; not my ability to EARN!
Throughout history there have only been two types of leaders/politicians - income redistributive and income growth. Keynesians are income redistributive. Cainsians are income growth.
TL you need to learn about basic economics and the Laffer Curve.
WRONG! What both Cain and you gloss over it that half of that 15.3% is paid by the employer, not the employee. And while people like Cain like to say it's still part of the cost of hiring people, there is no reason to believe that a company that is already paying it's employees the minimum amount the laws and market will allow is going to magnanimously give the 7.85% they no longer have to pay to those employees. They will just treat it like any other cost reduction,and add it their bottom line.
Not true. I paid those taxes all my life, but I'm RETIRED now, on a fairly small income. So, no payroll tax to cut, but additional taxes on income and food, fuel, and everything else.
It would be a serious blow to retired people, many of whom are barely making ends meet now. You work all your life paying into the social security system, and then not only do they give you less income than you could have gotten from a private retirement account, but they change the rules on you after you're retired and can't do anything about it.
The way to fix the current corrupt tax system is gradually--to cut out the special deals, cut out the rules designed for one corporate buddy and nobody else, gradually simplify it. That doesn't sound like such a great rallying cry, but it's how it ought to be done.
And also cut the tax rates, like Reagan and Bush did.
Reducing business taxes is a good idea, but Mr. Cain's plan doesn't do that. Look at it carefully. Here's what his own web site says:
# Business Flat Tax – 9%
* Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses and all dividends paid to shareholders.
* Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for payroll employed in the zone.
He replaces a 35% income tax -- a tax only on net profit -- with a 9% tax on business gross income less purchases, dividends, and investments. Notice that he excludes payrolls from the deductions, except in some "Empowerment Zones". That is a gigantic tax increase on most businesses, not a tax decrease.
Basically a corporation has to pay 9% on all employee salaries. That's more than FICA costs now, and for companies with little or no profits the new 9% tax has the same effect as increasing the employer's share of FICA to 9%. (Of course that's how Mr. Cain can make his plan "replace" FICA...)
A quick calculation based on Walmart's 2011 annual report indicates that they would pay about 2.5 Billion dollars more under Mr. Cain's plan. How is that going to help our economy, or consumers? That 2.5 Billion dollars has to come out of the pockets of Walmart's customers.
Mr. Cain's plan is a tax hike for just about everyone. Try it out on your own finances, and if you have a small business just run the numbers. You won't like what you see.