Posted on 10/24/2011 5:39:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We are finally starting to get the details about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's flat tax plan to be unveiled formally on Tuesday. Perry insiders confirm that the flat tax will have a rate of 20%, and tax filers will be able to choose between the flat tax and the current code.
This means that workers won't "be forced into the flat tax if they like the current system," a Perry advisor tells me.
It would also include a standard deduction of $12,500 for each person in the household. Mr. Perry said during the last GOP presidential debate that he would embrace a flat tax in the days to come.
The idea of an optional flat tax isn't entirely new. It was embraced by Steve Forbes in his 2000 presidential campaign. Also one of the leading flat tax bills in Congress would create an alternative flat tax. The Hong Kong flat tax of 15% (one of the inspirations for the Forbes flat tax in the 1990s) is also optional.
Mr. Perry is also not the first candidate in this field of Republican presidential hopefuls to endorse an optional flat tax. The plan released by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich also has that feature. "If our ideas are as good as we think they are, we shouldn't force people into our plan," says Mr. Gingrich. "Under an optional flat tax, no one loses," he adds.
Mr. Perry hopes to steal thunder from Herman Cain, who has dominated the tax reform debate with his 9-9-9 plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I’ll take c:none of the above.
Isn’t that Gingrich’s idea?
999!!!! That is the way to go. This is even bigger government. The accountants will be happy and government. 999 takes away IRS for the most part. Perry will grow the IRS as we will have separate departments for those who file regular and those who want the flat tax. NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!! We want to SHRINK government and grow it there Perry.
I’m just glad he is now focusing on a specific set of goals and a plan. Be it Cain’s 999 or Perry’s new plan, at least we have specific measurable goals to work from versus the crap we’ve been dealing with from most of the candidates. It is worth debating (I still like the 999 better but all are better than the current system).
47% who don’t pay taxes will pay the original way. All others pay flat tax.
The 20% rate seems high to me. I guess we will have to wait for the details to see if there are any deductions available. At least the Republicans are willing to put ideas on the table.
How does either plan expand the base to get those flying under the radar to pay their fair share of taxes?
How does it close the Corporate loop holes for those like GE? Every American needs to pay their share of taxes to support the Country they live in.
Perry’s own words:
All of these tax cuts will be meaningless if we do not control federal spending. Last year the government spent $1.3 trillion more than it collected, and total federal debt now approaches $15 trillion. By the end of 2011, the Office of Management and Budget expects the gross amount of federal debt to exceed the size of America’s entire economy for the first time in over 65 years.
Under my plan, we will establish a clear goal of balancing the budget by 2020. It will be an extremely difficult task exacerbated by the current economic crisis and our need for significant tax cuts to spur growth. But that growth is what will get us to balance, if we are willing to make the hard decisions of cutting.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204777904576651330270547222.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Is he clueless? We’d double our accounting bills as they figured our returns both ways to see which was better, and be back to stacking income and deductions is alternate years. The worst idea I’ve heard since the alternative minimum tax.
This means that the 47% who currently don't pay income tax will continue not to.
RE: 47% who don’t pay taxes will pay the original way. All others pay flat tax
Which means we’re back to 47% of wage earners NOT having a stake in the government and NOT caring if the other half’s taxes are raised.
Class envy continues with Perry’s tax plan.
Same old same old.
Accountants, tax lawyers and congressmen are applauding.
Pray for America
The flat tax will have to retain the payroll withholding that is evil.
Cain's tax plan will rub the tax payer's nose in it every time he purchases something.
He will be constantly reminded of what big government costs him.
That constant reminder will keep the tax from being raised.
Just look at how hard it is for a state to raise the sales tax. Only because it is the bottom line on every purchase one makes.
LOL! Why? You just shift some around. The flat tax people won't have as much to check.
The 9 9 9, 3 3 3, or 1 1 1 plan is what will be an IRS nightmare!
Yep, both Newt and Perry are proposing an “option” of paying according to a flat tax schedule.
In effect, however, this means that taxpayers will have to have their taxes done twice in order to determine under which option they owe less.
It adds to the accounting burden of taxpayers.
Agreed. This is dumb. Nobody that isn’t paying taxes is going to choose the flat tax, and everybody else will take it.
It’s a disguise for a massive tax cut for the producers (which I am all for), but it will get torn to shreds by the Dems and MSM.
Not a very intelligent plan.
What good is an option going to do? At the end of the day, 47% still pay no taxes.
I don’t know, with a family of four getting $50,000 in personal exemptions alone, there could be an increase in that 47% not paying anything.
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