The 9-9-9 plan does nothing more than create a national sales tax. It does not eliminate the income tax, and we will all be paying 20-20-20 before it is done. He should be ashamed to introduce such a thing in the GOP.
However, he is forcing the other candidates into an uncomfortable position. By attacking his plan they are defending the 35-35-0 tax scheme. I don't think all that many Republican primary voters have much faith that some politician will make a few tweeks and magically fix ten thousand pages of crony tax code.
It's been fun watching FReepers defend the progressive tax code, massive loopholes and redistribution policies. Like somehow the same congress that would give us a 20% sales tax wouldn't just as easily jack the income tax back up to 90%. At least the welfare parasites would have to pay the sales tax.
I’m sick of “9-9-9.” You can tell Cain knows marketing and that repeating a slogan ad infinitum will sell millions of pizzas.
We are destroying an economy that was once the marvel of the world by excessive debt financing the consumption of imported goods and energy and an abysmal savings rate.
Cain’s plan is the only one on the table to dramatically change the incentives in a fundamental way to return to domestic production of goods and increased savings.
I think will see him pitching pizza's on a commercial for $9 eventually.
sadly, I was left thinking... we're so screwed. After watching the debate.
Seriously, none of them could fix this mess, well... maybe Gingrich could but he has no chance, but the rest of them don't have what it's going to take to turn this mess around. I think under normal circumstances most of them would do a decent job, but these are the times that try mens souls, and what we are being offered (at least what I have seen of them so far) is not up to the task.
I'm depressed.
Cain’s 999 plan will resonate with many Americans who trust him to make it happen as he says it will.
If you don’t have “a plan”, you’re damned. If you do have a plan, like Herman Cain does, you set the agenda and guess what everyone is going to be talking about?
Mr. Cain is demonstrating the kind of brilliance that is seldom seen in politics, and we’re lucky he’s in the race.
Whatever its beauties or faults, it’ll never get enacted. Because this entire political system has been thoroughly corrupted by the tax code and the incentives it creates for favours and payments for such in the form of bribes which we euphemistically like to call “campaign contributions” (after all we’re not a banana republic.) This was pointed out to me thirty years ago by some commentator in the WSJ, Forbes or somewhere, who thought that the U.S. tax code, which many then and since then criticized and demanded that it be reformed, would be impossible to reform. Was he wrong 30 years ago?
The tax code is the problem. It needs to be replaced with either a flat tax or retain sales tax (fair tax). If we can get people seriously talking about it, we might get something done.
I like Herman Cain but I think 999 is DOA. He needs to propose something less radical and simple, like lower the capital gains tax to encourage investment. We don’t have to propose radical plans to beat Obama. It would be nice to flatten the tax code as well but that’s going to be difficult. The national sales tax is a non-starter. Cain has to switch gears in a hurry.
A 2-2-2 is a better idea.
Starve the beast.
Herman Cain needs to stop trying to be a one-note wonder with this catchy, but not particularly good, 9-9-9 plan; he has so many other notes available to him that he could be putting on a symphony and not just the plink, plink, plink of the same note over and over again.
...NOT
That 6-6-6 comment was just bone head dumb!
I’m surprised that no one has voiced concern over what I consider to be a show-stopper with Cain’s plan: “Empowerment Zones”.
What appears to be just another “All animals are equal, except some animals are more equal than others”, Cain’s plan suggests straight-forward “one size fits all” tax rates, nut then he says that folks living in “Empowerment Zones” get special consideration.
Back to the drawing board.
I think a lot of Herman Cain is over the heads of some of the candidates. You know what they say, there are none so blind as those who will not see. I have every confidence that the brilliant Mr. Cain has dotted all his i’s and crossed all of his t’s.
HERMAN CAIN NEEDED ARROWS AND NO MORE SOFTBALLS SENT HIS WAY, to toughen him up for the 2012 general election. Obama will be full court press scorched earth against him. This is practice. The front runner, Cain, did just fine tonight. He is good under pressure. Proven. Tested. I was looking and hoping for that.
Cain is a radical tax reformer, which is what we need. Confiscatory taxation is slavery!
The biggest argument against 9-9-9 is that congress could change it to 20-20-20, but they could change it to 100% now. The 9-9-9 plan eliminates the existing [crony] code and adds new obstacles to increasing the rates.
Anyone falling for the 999 plan has not thought things through very well.... this is not the “Fair Tax” plan.....
