Herman Cain's 999 Plan

I have already blogged about my belief that if God only requires 10% of our income, then government has to carefully justify a higher tax rate than that. It seems natural I ought to comment on Herman Cain's 999 Plan since it appears to do one percentage point better than tithing. Here are three opening points to consider before getting down to business.

First off, while I like Cain personally, my enthusiasm for him is no match for my skepticism he can win. If it is any consolation to Cain supporters out there, I will likely vote for him in the South Carolina primary just to say that when Mitt Romney wins the nomination, it is not my fault. I did not vote for John McCain in the 2008 South Carolina primary, either. Nor did I vote for him here in the 2000 primary, if you are interested in knowing. All that to say the 999 plan will never happen because Cain will never be president, much less have the chance for congress to inevitably shoot the plan down as too radical a change to the tax code. Too many people like the loopholes of a complex tax code. The powers that be will never get rid of it.

Second, I am aware of the less than serious criticism of The 999 plan. It has been speculated the plan originated with SimCity. whoever suggested that has never played the game. You always start off with a tax rate of 7% and build slowly so the population will boom. You only increase the tax rate to 9% when you have a decent size city established and want to control its growth. While it is true some fad theories about urban development have crept their way from academia to the game, the reverse is not true. Cain is not getting his economic policy ideas from a computer game.

Finally, Michele Bachmann quipped The 999 Plan ought to be called The 666 Plan. I am confident she was just going for a sound byte there, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, she also allegedly holds the ideal 10% tax rate idea, though I think she is holding that out as a personal view unlikely to become actual tax policy. But her sound byte jab was Biblically based, so she may very well be skeptical of The 999 Plan with the 10% tax rate in mind. Or she may not be all that bright. Take your pick.

Jon Huntsman made a jab at The 999 Plan, too, but who cares? He is Chris Matthews' favorite Republican. Not so much a tingle up his leg as that easing sense of relief as a cramp fades away.

But let us pretend this is the best of all possible worlds and the 999 Plan has a legitimate shot at becoming the law of the land. The 999 Plan is a 9% business tax, 9% personal income tax, and a 9% national sales tax. I have to say it is flawed without a couple tweaks.

I have advocated a national sales tax since a couple economics classes in college. For whatever that is worth, of course. But I support a national sales tax in lieu of the income tax or even a flat tax. Philosophically speaking, I think any tax on income is a punishment for success. Why is it that if I make more money than someone else, I have to pay more taxes than he does? I do not grasp the “obligation” to pay my fair share, as though I am a drain somehow, when I have produced more wealth. A flat tax on income is not much better, but for a different reason. A 23% income tax rate, as a for instance, is unfair because 23% of one’s income may men more to someone making less money. national sales tax is a pay as you go tax. The more you spend, the more you pay in taxes. It is the fairest idea with which I can come up.

The 999 plan’s big flaw is that it has both an income and a national sales tax, with the national sales tax tacked on to any state sales tax. In South Carolina, I would pay a grand total of 14% in sales tax on any item I buy, which just might be enough for a Rick Perry protest vote in the primary. Cain needs to drop either the national sales tax or the income tax from his plan. He is more likely to do the former, but I am not confident he will do either.

The point is I am not a big fan of The 999 Plan as it is, even if it does sound good on paper and fits in with my stringent criteria for setting the tax rate. Said tax rate would involve a whole lot of sacrifices I do not think Americans are willing to make, but it does not matter since we are stuck with the current tax code for the duration. As usual, anyone with more insight than I possess on the subject should feel free to politely offer it up--and no, I will not stick to posting celebrity photos and Star Trek reviews just because you think differently. Thanks for the blogging advice regardless.