“Where are the Perry plan supporters?”
I support the Perry plan, there just didn’t seem to be much on this thread to argue about. True, it is an ‘optional’ flat tax that keeps the current code in place, and I would rather just do away with it entirely. However, in order to make this politically viable, I think you almost have to keep the old code in place (at least in the beginning), otherwise you’ll have loads of complaints from people who will claim (and sometimes it’s only just a claim using ‘creative’ math) that they pay much less under the old code. Doing it this way allows people to choose which one they like best. The thinking being that most will migrate to the simple flat tax. Over time, the idea of eliminating the old tax code and maybe tweaking whatever needs to be tweaked with the new one can be revisited.
BTW-this is not unlike Cain’s 9/9/9 plan in that respect. Cain’s own website mention that 9/9/9/ is just a first step in a desired transition over to a fair tax, which is what he prefers. He just doesn’t believe it’s politically viable to scrap the entire IRS and move over totally to a national sales tax right away. Unfortunately for Cain, this has given his plan a bad rap cause it opens up the criticism that he is adding a new revenue stream for the govn’t without shutting off the old one. But his real intentions are to eventually get rid of the income tax entirely and replace it with a higher percentage sales tax.
A 9% true flat tax and 90% deregulation of business would unleash unbounded prosperity.
This is hugely important.
I won't repeat here, but for the record and in case you're interested, some of my comments relevant to your arguments on the "good" things about leaving the old code in place:
I also read that under the Perry plan, once you go “flat” you can’t go back to the old code. On the press call with Perry’s economic team (I was invited! Yea!), one answer to why the old code option remains is because there wasn’t any way to measure the effectiveness of the acceptance of the flat tax without real world data. I got the impression that the old code would be phased out in short order.
I agree that is Cain’s largest mistake. Frankly I think the FairTax is too cumbersome to work. It still requires filing every year to get your weekly rebate checks. A 23% flat sales tax will never fly among the retired or on fixed incomes and with Baby Boomers hitting retirement age right now, that means 20-30 years of fierce resistance to the 23% rate imho.
The 999 plan might fly, it has a better chance of passing. If Cain would take a second and third look at it, tighten it up a bit here or there, he could convince the country it is the better plan. The economic zones aren’t the best idea, he might be better off rebating 9% at the poverty level for those who chose to file returns (and not to those who simply want to be left alone). Cain can pitch this as “you will never have to file a tax return again” because employers will remit the 9% on their behalf, retailers the other 9%, and people are finally FREE FROM registering their incomes, deductions, spending, charity etc with the IRS. People on fixed incomes may be better off with the 9% sales tax as they never pay tax on their SS or savings or capital gains or accrued interests.
I think it has the makings of an extremely solid, well defensible, widely acceptable plan. He isn’t selling it very well and he isn’t explaining it as well as he can. It isn’t perfect (I would like to see companies be able to write off payroll expenses, because that is the only sure fire way to ensure businesses will invest in human capital as opposed to capital equipment) but otherwise it is a solid plan that is very viable.