Fact-checking the Republican debate in Nevada

By Aaron Sharockman
Politifact
Published on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 9:19 a.m.

Boosted by his newly minted front-runner status, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain bounced into Tuesday's GOP debate in Las Vegas as the latest possible conservative foil to Mitt Romney.

So ... naturally Cain and his "9-9-9" tax plan became the immediate focus of attacks from the group of Republicans hoping to knock him off stride.

9-9-9, Cain says, is the first step to creating a national flat or "fair" tax. It would replace the current complicated tax system with 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent national sales tax and a 9 percent tax on businesses. Unlike the current system, Cain's plan includes relatively few opportunities for people or businesses to claim deductions or write off expenses. The personal income tax, for example, would include only two potential exemptions -- people could write off donations to charity and tax filers would get a break for living in impoverished inner cities. Cain's national sales tax would be on top of state and local sales taxes. (You can read a more detailed background of the plan here.)

More people have started to criticize Cain's plan, saying it's a regressive series of taxes that will force poorer and middle-class Americans to pay more in federal taxes.

(More here.)