Herman Cain's tax plan loses a 9, continues to suck for poor people
By Ben ReiningaOctober 22nd, 2011, 2:55 pmComments (30)
Herman Cain's continued lead in the GOP field is taking everyone by surprise — even Herman Cain. The longer Cain's inexplicable lead continues (and he just won yet another straw poll in Nevada) the clearer it becomes that he's really not prepared for this gig.
Take, for example, his much-touted (and possibly SimCity-inspired) tax plan, the 9-9-9. It sounds great — it's numerical, symmetrical, easy to remember — and it turns out to be bad news for just about everyone. After Cain refused to name the analysts who aided in the development of the plan, some real economists actually broke it down. At the bottom, I've included a helpful graph of the plan's effects, courtesy of The Rachel Maddow Show. If you don't have the energy to analyze it, it's pretty simple: poor people lose a lot of money, and rich people gain a lot of money.
In light of this research, Cain's team of mad economist scientists went back to the drawing board and decided to drop a 9, for the poorest Americans. Which means that if you're at or below the poverty level, you won't pay income tax.
Same symmetry, same jazzy title, and now a token gesture to poor people. The millions of dollars in savings for the very rich and general tax hikes for middle-income folks, of course, remain intact.
Never have I been more excited for a Mitt Romney renaissance.
Ten points if you made it this far.
Commentarium (30 Comments)
Everything sucks for poor people; that is part of being poor.
Listen, if you're too poor to afford pizza, then you have only yourself to blame!
"Which means that if you're at or below the poverty level, you won't pay income tax."
But, it will still raise taxes for a lot of people. Some where at about 14% of Americans are at or below poverty. So, 66% of the bottom 80% will still see a tax hike, aka much of the Republican's voting base. Good luck with that one, Cain.
What if paying taxes puts me below poverty level?
Then you should bring it up with some Republicans who think that someone earning $1,000,000 a year "aren't rich".
@AcneVulgaris It is your own fault and you need to pull up your bootstraps immediately.
Since no one seems to give Huntsman any publicity, let's all get behind Romney. How's this for a slogan: "Vote for the Mormon, not the Moron!"
can't spell "perfect". My fat fingers just can't seem to hit the right keys when I'm drunk!
Did you ever think that it might have been pervert that he was trying to type? Or, more importantly, that he doesn't give a fuck and that you're the only person here who does?
I'm pretty sure that you see "pervert" even when reading "perfect" spelled correctly, wether you typed it or not! At this moment, you might want to ask yourself if you give a fuck about that.
Nope, I don't.
You cared enough to reply!
As opposed to your "fuck not given"? You're too stupid to even fail at the trolling that you do.
See, conservatroll? Keep saying that you don't care and then keep replying over and over. It proves your point that much more!
Pitiful fool. If I were to have chosen the name Prefect, you would without doubt have thought it was also an error.
Does anyone dispute that the tax code needs to be reformed? If it's not 9-9-9 or even 9-9, what is it? Like him or not, you have to give Cain credit for taking on a hard issue.
Ah, yes. Since the current system is imperfect, let's just suggest something that will make things even worse, in the name of just doing something. Like shooting your foot off because you have gout.
Um, I think you have gout, sir. Would you like to borrow my shotgun?
Taking on a hard issue and demonstrating his lack of understanding of how taxes work, making me even less likely to support him, because it is so laughably bad, than it makes me admire him for trying.
@julian - You decide who you vote for but instead of laughing off his "lack of understanding," what's your idea for reforming the system?
Well, I'm not a tax expert and I am not claiming to be. Also, I'm not running for public office much less the president of the united states, so that defense of "well, what would YOU do!?" doesn't work here. Sure, I might not come up with a better system either but that doesn't mean just because -I- personally can't come up with a system, Herman Cain's is the next best available system.
That being said. I wouldn't necessarily do a huge overhaul of everything. I think, perhaps, redoing the corporate tax structure is a good idea, but generally, I would lower rates but close the massive tax loopholes and deductions which currently allow many corporations to spend little or nothing on taxes. I would also get rid of the upper end tax deductions left over from the bush era. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.
"What would you do?" definitely works here. The fact that you aren't a tax expert or running for office simply means the correct answer in your case is, "I have no idea."
I never said Cain's was the best available system. The current systems sucks completely and needs to be replaced. I'll give Cain credit for taking the initiative. I believe that the imposition of a national sales tax is a stupendously bad idea as it is sure to grow year to year. What tax "loopholes" would you close that would have any impact at all on revenue?
What is an upper income tax deduction?
Just because I'm not a tax expert and claim not to be one doesn't mean that I can't criticize a politician's proposed tax plans. In fact, that is the very heart of politics. We listen to what politicians propose, and if it sounds completely inane, like Cain's proposal, that makes us less likely to support them. I don't have to have some grand proposal to be able to say why I don't support Cain's plan; I can base my disapproval solely on that his idea sounds incredibly bad.
So, to say I have "no idea" is entirely unrepresentative of my opinion. I have an idea on what kinds of policies I want to see political figures make and which kinda I don't want to see them make and Cain's is the latter of the two.
So you're unqualified to say what would work but completely qualified to criticize someone else's plan. Interesting. What you describe as the heart of politics is really just the First Amendment. Having the right to voice an opinion doesn't mean that opinion is worth much.
As someone who doesn't pay taxes because I don't have a job, I would like to have the problem of dealing with the affects of taxes on income. How will Mr Cain's proposal create jobs?
Perhaps you don't have a job because you don't know the difference between affects and effects.
yeah, I'm sure that's it
I see, I spuopse that would have to be the case.
Just what the doctor orederd, thankity you!
Now you say something