Rick Perry flat tax plan: Don't expect a 9-9-9 retread
Fresh off Tuesday night鈥檚 rollicking GOP presidential debate, Rick Perry says he鈥檒l soon be unveiling a flat tax proposal.
"It starts with 鈥� scrapping the three million words of the current tax code, starting over with something simple: a flat tax," the Texas governor told GOP activists at the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Las Vegas Wednesday.
Like businessman Herman Cain, whose 9-9-9 plan came under fire at Tuesday's debate, Mr. Perry wants to do away with the current tax system. Although Perry won鈥檛 reveal the details until a speech scheduled for next week in South Carolina, the similarities likely end there.
鈥淗erman, I love you, brother, but let me tell you something: You don鈥檛 have to have a big analysis to figure this thing out. Go to New Hampshire, where they don鈥檛 have a sales tax, and you鈥檙e fixing to give them one,鈥� Perry told Mr. Cain during the debate. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not interested in 9-9-9. What they鈥檙e interested in is flatter and fairer."
Perry added, "I鈥檒l bump plans with you, brother 鈥� and we鈥檒l see who has the best idea about how you get this country working again.鈥�
(The Twitterverse, by the way, burbled with questions Wednesday about why Perry twice referred to Cain, who is African American, as 鈥渂rother.鈥� Had it anything to do with Perry鈥檚 recent problem over his family鈥檚 hunting camp once having a racist name?)
It鈥檚 expected that Perry鈥檚 flat tax plan will be a major part of his broad plan to revive the economy and create jobs. The New York Times reports that Steve Forbes, who ran for president in 1996 and 2000 on a pledge of implementing a single flat tax on income, has recently joined Perry鈥檚 campaign as an adviser.
Perry told the Republican gathering Wednesday that he 鈥渨ill put forward a plan that balances the budget,鈥� and he pledged to 鈥渂arnstorm all 50 states to generate support for a balanced-budget amendment that will require the necessary tough choices year after year.鈥�
Among other traditionally conservative talking points, Perry promised 鈥渁 serious commitment to spending cuts,鈥� said he would aggressively pursue a 鈥淢ade in America鈥� energy policy that goes after 鈥渦ntapped supplies of natural gas, oil and coal,鈥� and vowed to 鈥減ut a halt to job-killing EPA rules that are grinding our economy to a halt.鈥� He also promised to ban congressional earmarks.
In principle, a flat tax would replace today鈥檚 graduated tax rates that increase with income with a single rate for all income levels. Critics consider it regressive and harmful to those of lesser means.
According to a recent analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Cain鈥檚 9-9-9 plan (a flat 9 percent income tax, a 9 percent sales tax, and a 9 percent tax on business income) would raise taxes on 84 percent of American households while cutting taxes for the 鈥渕illionaires and billionaires鈥� President Obama says can afford to pay more.
Notable among the debate fireworks Tuesday night were the sharp exchanges between Perry and party establishment favorite Mitt Romney.
In his speech Wednesday, Perry did not mention Romney by name, but he alluded to a difference he wants to portray.
鈥淚 am not the candidate of the establishment,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou won鈥檛 hear a lot of shape-shifting nuance from me.鈥�
Perry also used his flat tax teaser to take a poke at Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who admitted during his 2009 confirmation hearings that he had been late in filing his income tax returns.
鈥淚 want to make the tax code so simple that even Timothy Geithner can file his taxes on time,鈥� Perry said.
