Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Herman Cain defends '9-9-9' tax plan on 'Meet the Press'
Los Angeles Times ^ | October 16, 2011 | Brian Bennett

Posted on 10/16/2011 11:50:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Herman Cain tested the national spotlight Sunday as the Republican presidential primary’s newest front-runner.

Facing tough questions during a 25-minute one-on-one interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Cain acknowledged that his plan to simplify the tax code would raise taxes for “some” people and clarified his position that he doesn’t believe abortion should be an option in instances of rape and incest.

Scrapping the current federal tax code — which he described as a “10-million-word mess” — would eliminate a host of invisible taxes and eventually reduce prices, Cain said.

Some economists have pointed out that Cain’s plan would shift the tax burden further from the rich to the poor and middle class.

"Some people will pay more. But most people will pay less," said the former Godfather’s Pizza executive and a former chairman of the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City when pressed by host David Gregory about the effects of his tax plan.

Cain said the biggest appeal of his plan is its simplicity. The plan calls for a 9% personal income tax, a 9% corporate tax, and a 9% federal sales tax.

Video game enthusiasts have pointed out that Cain’s plan is the same tax schedule used in the computer game SimCity 4.

When asked how he would get the "9-9-9" plan through Congress, Cain said he would drum up public support.

“The American people understand it and are going to demand it,” he said.

Citing the simplicity of his positions and his conservative credentials, Cain said he doesn’t think his front-runner status will peter out like other GOP candidates who surged in the polls only to fade away earlier this year.

“I don't think Herman Cain will be a flavor of the week," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 999; aclown4perry; boneheads4romney; books4sale; booktour; bordersopenperry; bush3perry; cain; cain2012; corruption4perry; cronycapital4perry; gopbots4perr; gopbots4perry; hermancain; liars4perry; nationrinos4perry; romenyperry2012; romney; romneybotattack; romneyperry; salestax; slander4perry; tax; taxes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-136 next last
To: sargon
If his Party doesn't control Congress, then not much...

Great plan, let's depend on Congress to stop his executive orders, that has worked so well in the past.

61 posted on 10/16/2011 1:35:03 PM PDT by txroadkill (Antlers up! The Claw must be feared!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie
So how about this, try making a case FOR your candidate instead of slimming all the other candidates.

You go first. You are the Romney Campaign bot...you are pimping for Kristol and the NYT...lying about Perry helping Romney.

We know who you, Kristol and NYT are helping.

If you even imply you haven't been quoting Kristol all over FR about Perry, you are a liar.

62 posted on 10/16/2011 1:42:08 PM PDT by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: gardencatz
Any solutions to a serious problems are going to have their warts. To go in a different direction than the one you’ve been in for decades is going to be hard and require discussion & consideration for issues that will be affected. States have the tax policy they do because they’ve adapted to the current tax policy. They would have to do that again regardless of the new plan...flat tax, fair tax, etc. would be entirely new for the country.

But I thought the idea was to pull back from the powerful centralized federal government and give power back to the states?

Our property taxes pay for our local schools, hospitals, safety, infrastructure.

Our sales tax supports things we need and approve spending on here in Texas.

63 posted on 10/16/2011 1:44:38 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: lonestar
Thank you for proving my point.

Like the Romneybots, the Perry camp cannot make a case FOR their candidate, they can only trash talk all the other candidates.

No wonder your guy is dying in the polls.

64 posted on 10/16/2011 1:45:51 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
This may be related to what Cain said. I don't know if this is a recent change or clarification (I don't recall seeing it before), but the claim is that the 9% National Sales Tax wouldn't necessarily mean higher prices at the checkout. I remain skeptical.
From http://www.hermancain.com/999plan

9% National Sales Tax.
    Unlike a state sales tax, which is an add-on tax that increases the price
    of goods and services, this is a replacement tax. It replaces taxes that
    are already embedded in selling prices. By replacing higher marginal rates
    in the production process with lower marginal rates, marginal production
    costs actually decline, which will lead to prices being the same or lower,
    not higher. 

65 posted on 10/16/2011 1:46:01 PM PDT by Quicksilver (Defeat Obama - zero-sum games will get us Zero, again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
READ THE BOOKS!

Is that easier for you to read?

Question 1

Question 2

And then my all time favorite;

When all else fails

66 posted on 10/16/2011 1:51:06 PM PDT by mazda77 (and I am a Native Texan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie
Lead me to a post where you have tried to make a case for your guy!

All I've see you do is go to all the Perry threads and post your Kristol quotes from the NYT...trying to help Romney!

You are the Romneybot.

Then you say, "No wonder your guy is dying in the polls.

You can't even decide who I'm for!

I'll help you out here...I'm a Perry supporter and his record speaks for itself...Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!...and it beats the heck out of RomneyCare and 9 9 9.

67 posted on 10/16/2011 1:56:30 PM PDT by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: MNJohnnie

It seems the Perry fans support the current tax scheme. They just want to tweak it a bit.

Personally, I think a scheme where 50% vote to pay nothing, and to sponge off the other 50% - and those numbers are likely to soon hit 60/40 - is a scheme to ruin a country.

If we had a 9% sales tax, EVERYONE would scream if it went up. But right now, you can raise taxes and maybe only 10-20% will get hit - while the rest enjoy taking money they didn’t earn from those who did.

Seems obscene to me, but then, I’m not a fan of our tax system, nor of Mitt & Perry.


68 posted on 10/16/2011 1:57:22 PM PDT by Mr Rogers ("they found themselves made strangers in their own country")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Quicksilver

Thank you. In the interview Cain explained there are “hidden” “embedded” taxes up the process and delivery chain and that the businesses will lower their prices so that purchases on new items will remain the same or be lower due to his 9% corporate sales tax. How do you guarantee something like that?

I could not grasp how he planned to sell this to people living in states with property taxes and sales taxes that cover costs to live in those states — while adding the 9% federal sales tax on top of goods they buy (he made the distinction between new and old — so that rich would pay more — I guess they’ll be buying the new stuff).

It was unsettling to me that he said people are ignorant and don’t pay attention in one breath, and then in the next said people liked his 9-9-9 plan and it would get support because of it’s simplicity and that people could understand it.

He seems to put the onus on states to change and adapt to the federal 9% tax. How do you figure something like that out (sketch it out on a blank sheet to see what your bottom line 9% personal income tax will be?) — how do you compare it to what you are paying now?

A lot of devils in those details.

My mother instilled in me the notion that, figures don’t lie but liars can figure — and I can see the feds on the hill sharpening their pencils and happy to have at us in entirely new ways and we won’t know what’s in it until the bill is passed (to paraphrase Nancy Pelosi).


69 posted on 10/16/2011 1:59:26 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: txroadkill
"Some people will pay more. But most people will pay less,"

That's a lie, this plan raises taxes on the poor and middle class and does nothing to control Federal spending.

Abolish the IRS and the EPA, destroy the unions by outlawing withholding of dues from paychecks nationally,and attack the lawyers who drive up the cost of everything by instituting hard edged Tort Reform.

He can go get bent with new Federal sales tax while leaving the IRS and income tax in place.

70 posted on 10/16/2011 2:03:37 PM PDT by Rome2000 (OBAMA IS A COMMUNIST CRYPTO-MUSLIM)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: mazda77

Not to worry. I keep my tail feathers numbered for just such emergencies.

And the bottom line, you really DON’T know.

NO ONE knows.


71 posted on 10/16/2011 2:08:09 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: presently no screen name

No they aren’t. but somehow Cain doesn’t think the State Sales tax is relevent to the situation. I stopped listening at that point.


72 posted on 10/16/2011 2:09:38 PM PDT by marty60
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

How does this do that? Do you think a fair tax or flat tax do that? This is the same concept. States are going to have to consider changes regardless of what system the federal government adopts. I never said or implied states (or counties or cities & towns) would lose their revenue streams. Why would they if they don’t now? Cain is talking about FEDERAL taxes. I’m sure I’ll still continue to pay state income tax, property tax, etc. Property taxes pay for local services here. States will manage their finances as they always have...independently based on what’s right for their state.

Cindie


73 posted on 10/16/2011 2:12:19 PM PDT by gardencatz (Proud mom US Marine! It can't always be someone else's son.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: magritte

I’m a AJC

American
Jewish
Conservative

Got a problem with that?


74 posted on 10/16/2011 2:15:49 PM PDT by Marie (Cain 9s Have Teeth)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: gardencatz

Because the Flat (federal income) Tax didn’t include a National Sales Tax on top of it.


75 posted on 10/16/2011 2:16:44 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: marty60

There is a state ‘sales’ tax and state ‘income’ tax - both in some states - is his 9% personal tax supposed to replace that?


76 posted on 10/16/2011 2:18:14 PM PDT by presently no screen name
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Marie

Dunno. You running for President?


77 posted on 10/16/2011 2:18:25 PM PDT by magritte
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

So instead of avoiding the issue, have you read the books and run the numbers? Warning, there could be a quiz following your answer.


78 posted on 10/16/2011 2:20:28 PM PDT by mazda77 (and I am a Native Texan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: gardencatz
I’m sure I’ll still continue to pay state income tax, property tax, etc. Property taxes pay for local services here. States will manage their finances as they always have...independently based on what’s right for their state

That's what I think, also. State 'income' and state 'sales' tax goes on as usual.
79 posted on 10/16/2011 2:21:56 PM PDT by presently no screen name
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: Kartographer

Why don’t you tell me how Romney and Perry are similar.


80 posted on 10/16/2011 2:25:10 PM PDT by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-136 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson