A Scary Guide to the GOP Tax Plans
Jaime Fuller
The American Prospect
October 28, 2011
We rate the Republican candidates' tax plans on a creepy Herman Cain grin meter.
When did tax-reform plans become so sexy? It seems like every day now GOP candidates are flaunting a new, slimmer tax plan, complete with a catchy name and nonsensical (or nonexistent) ideas supporting them. After a while, they can all start to look the same, but they vary widely on the craziness spectrum. Homeland Security decided that colors are passé as a way to measure threat, so here is my patented Herman Cain “I am America” smile threat level system.
The Baseline: There are some basic conservative calling cards that the GOP tax plans share. They would all eliminate the 15 percent capital gains tax (Mitt Romney would only eliminate the tax for families making less than $200,000 a year) and the estate tax, and all the candidates have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank. If your only source of news for the past couple of weeks has been the GOP debates, you would think that these were the two most dangerous pieces of legislation ever to be passed in the United States, right up there with The Great Society and the Social Security Act.
The following tax plans differ only in terms of complexity—and absurdity.
Herman Cain
9-9-9 is the most well-known of the proposed tax plans. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan would scrap the entire federal tax system and replace it with a nine percent business flat tax, nine percent individual flat tax, and nine percent sales tax. You might recognize 9-9-9 from hearing it repeatedly on the news—between Cain’s pizza inspired “Imagine” cover and the never ending refrain of “number nine, number nine, number nine,” you’d think the Fab Four were sponsoring the former pizza executive’s cross country book tour.
(More here.)
The American Prospect
October 28, 2011
We rate the Republican candidates' tax plans on a creepy Herman Cain grin meter.
When did tax-reform plans become so sexy? It seems like every day now GOP candidates are flaunting a new, slimmer tax plan, complete with a catchy name and nonsensical (or nonexistent) ideas supporting them. After a while, they can all start to look the same, but they vary widely on the craziness spectrum. Homeland Security decided that colors are passé as a way to measure threat, so here is my patented Herman Cain “I am America” smile threat level system.
The Baseline: There are some basic conservative calling cards that the GOP tax plans share. They would all eliminate the 15 percent capital gains tax (Mitt Romney would only eliminate the tax for families making less than $200,000 a year) and the estate tax, and all the candidates have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank. If your only source of news for the past couple of weeks has been the GOP debates, you would think that these were the two most dangerous pieces of legislation ever to be passed in the United States, right up there with The Great Society and the Social Security Act.
The following tax plans differ only in terms of complexity—and absurdity.
Herman Cain
9-9-9 is the most well-known of the proposed tax plans. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan would scrap the entire federal tax system and replace it with a nine percent business flat tax, nine percent individual flat tax, and nine percent sales tax. You might recognize 9-9-9 from hearing it repeatedly on the news—between Cain’s pizza inspired “Imagine” cover and the never ending refrain of “number nine, number nine, number nine,” you’d think the Fab Four were sponsoring the former pizza executive’s cross country book tour.
(More here.)
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