Why I support Herman Cain for President of the United States-
First let me tell you that I am biased. Anyone that tells you that they support a candidate, but will remain unbiased is either lying or they are delusional. I love Herman. I will defend him personally and politically. I will TRY to be as objective as possible, but like I said, that may be impossible. I will attempt to be as even keeled as I can be under the circumstances. Those that have read my other posts about Herman know that I do call out the stupid things that he does, but I WILL defend the good things that he does. So without more ado.Reasons why I support Herman Cain-
1)999 Plan- I am a FairTax guy. I had written an “argument” for a National Sales Tax in 1994 for a logic and critical thinking class, and was arrogant ( I know! Me? ) enough to think that I invented the idea. My thought was, it sure does take a lot of time to do this tax return,(1040 EZ man how I wish I could just do one of those now) and what about all the illegal people, I was thinking specifically of drug dealers at the time, that don’t pay any taxes on all the money they make. I have been a supporter of a National Retail Sales tax since I “invented” it almost 20 years ago. When I wrote my argument long ago, I had no idea about “imbedded taxes”, payroll taxes, estate taxes, or corporate taxes. My argument was strictly to replace the individual income tax with a NRST. That’s it. My goal was to eliminate the loophole of drug dealers, and other organized crime people of not paying any taxes. I had not come to the conclusion yet that a tax on one’s production is parallel to stealing.
So when I first heard of the FairTax, I was beyond excited. I suddenly learned that in every single item one purchases, are the taxes that the manufacturer, salespeople, transportation, and everyone else involved in making that item, till when I purchased the item, paid. I also learned that corporations and other businesses do not “pay” taxes at all, but simply “collect” taxes by putting that as a cost in the good or service, and passing it on to the consumer. Ultimately, only people pay taxes. I also learned that because of the corporate taxes that a corporation had to put into the price of their goods or service, that eventually it became more cost efficient to make said items or services in a country that had lower corporate taxes. Hence, businesses moved their manufacturing to a different country. (Also federal regulations and more importantly government payroll taxes makes labor even more expensive, so by moving out of country suddenly a 13.5% reduction in cost is felt). The other benefits of the FairTax, is that since capital gains are not taxed, people from other countries as well as the US, can “invest” in companies through the stock market tax free. Can you imagine the influx of capital into the US stock market, if all “profits” were felt tax free? It could (and the 45Million in research that has gone into the FairTax has shown) that the stock market “market cap” (total amount invested) would triple in 7 years. That my friends is a lot of expanding business, meaning more jobs here, meaning more consumers here, meaning more revenues here. Easy enough to understand?
So that is the elimination of the corporate income taxes, now the elimination of personal income taxes. Every April 15th we have to report to the federal government not only how much money we’ve earned, but also where we earned it, how we earned it, which charities we’ve given donations to, how many children we have, how much we spent, and what we spent it on in the conduction of earning the money, how far we’ve driven, and even if we’ve lost or won money gambling. ARE YOU EFFING SERIOUS!!! Can there be anything more invasive of one’s privacy short of a gynecological or prostrate exam? But the Federal Government apparently has the need to know exactly all of this information to make sure that you pay exactly your “fair share”. The FairTax eliminates all of this intrusion. The only personal information one has to provide is how many people under a certain age live in a household. This is for something called a “prebate” which I’m not a big fan of, but it does make sense that one should be able to provide the basic needs to their family BEFORE paying the government. Like I said, I would make it straight, no chaser, but understand that this was put in to ward off the “it’ll hurt the poor” charges. The “prebate” does that, but it still doesn’t stop the “it’ll hurt the poor” charges. By eliminating the corporate tax and the payroll taxes, businesses’ costs go down by that much. The costs of goods to the consumer would naturally go down because of competition. (Sure the corporations would love to keep all that extra profit, but company b will accept a little less, lower their prices, and the war is on. I could get into the 23% tax on the goods, but it’s been covered plenty of times. I can do that in another piece, and for now I just wanted to express that I AM A FAIRTAX GUY! If I were to choose one single thing that I would change about the US, it would be to eliminate all taxes, and put in the FairTax. I believe it to be an economic producer the likes that have never been seen in the US.
SO… What’s this have to do with Herman Cain, and the 999 Plan? Herman has answered a lot of the main criticism of the FairTax with his plan.
PART I- THE 9-9-9 Plan
1) 9% corporate income taxes
a) Eliminates corporate tax subsidies
b) Lowers Corporate tax rates from the low of 15% to the high of 35% to 9%
c) Calculations are done on gross income minus expenses- Dividends paid (net income) This last part “minus the Dividends paid” is very important. Currently Dividends (profit issued per share to the shareholder) are taxed on the corporate level, AND THEN taxed again as income to the individual taxpayer. This eliminates double taxation of the same money
d) Makes tax prep for corporations and businesses 1% of what they are now. I use to recruit for corporate tax people. There are people that get Masters Degrees in Taxation. The tax code is so complicated; Home Depot (one of my former clients) had a staff of over 140 people whose sole purpose was corporate taxes. I could run down the list of different taxes, but let’s just say it’s a highly specialized field. Want to know the biggest geeks in the world? Corporate tax accountant, who can rattle on about a FAS109 as if it were the most fascinating movie you’ve ever seen. My point? The average salary of one of these people at Home Depot (not the best payer in terms of actual salary of my old clients) was 70K. The Tax Director? 350K (plus bonus) All of these little nerds counting this transaction, that sale, this asset, that asset’s depreciation, etc. and for what? To come up with the final tax bill owed by Home Depot. And this is not all. On top of Home Depot’s regular “tax department” they also have Delloite and Touche to come in and independently audit all that work. Millions of dollars, every year, just to count the amount of money to give to the government. With the 9-9-9 plan, the standard accounting department that already is in place sends out the “we made this much in gross income, we paid this much in dividends, and we invested this much in the company. It’s called a 10-K and a 10-Q and every corporation has to do them. Already in place. Poof! Millions of dollars saved by the company, more profit to shareholders, more money to invest in expansion. And don’t worry about all the tax people out of a job. They can use their talents on financial analysis to grow the business even more.
e) Corporations that currently are skating (GE) will not skate anymore. They will pay the same as the Waffle House. 9%
2) 9% Personal income taxes
a) Pretty simple. I make 100K per year. I give 10% to my church, making my tax liability 90K. My tax to the government is 8100 dollars. Stroke the check. If I have to explain why this is better than the current tax code then there really isn’t any hope for you. Personally I disagree with the deduction for charitable giving, not because I want to hurt charities, but because I like the simplicity of, I make 100K, my tax bill is 9K. My income is 40K, my tax bill is 3600. My income is 20K, my tax bill is 1800. My name is Alex Rodriguez, my salary is 32M, and my tax bill is 2,880,000. Simple, easy, no cheating, no whining. Just pay your “fair share” (Doesn’t that phrase make your teeth itch?)
b) Not only will this save people in actual taxes paid, but like Home Depot, people can all do this “return” themselves. I personally would save over a grand in expenses paid to an accountant. If I were to try to do my taxes now, it not only would take me weeks, but I’m sure I would screw it up. I can understand my own business and most of the taxes, I’m expected to pay, what I can and cannot deduct, etc, but my wife’s family has a “partnership” in which we are shareholders. I have NO CLUE, how to account for all of that stuff. It’s a whole other section of the 86,000+ page tax code. Am I supposed to become a tax attorney /accountant, just so I don’t screw this stuff up, and end up in jail?
c) Yes I wish there were no income taxes at all, and it was replaced totally by the FairTax. This 9-9-9 is a bridge, to that final goal, and it is SO FAR removed from the current tax code, it’s worth the wait to get to the final goal.
3) 9% National Retail Sales Tax
a) This is the one that folks seem to be focused on as the biggest problem to the plan.
1. By instilling a “new tax” such as the National Sales Tax the Democrats (and republicans) can just crank this percentage up whenever they feel the need. Why yes they can do this but would they? They already do this. All this “corporate jets tax breaks” stuff that Obama wants to get rid of, and that the Republicans want to keep. Did any of you know about that being in the stimulus plan? All the little breaks that are given out to this company, but not that company are bullshit. And they throw these little nuggets in other non-related bills. The best thing I can say to those that say are afraid of keeping the income tax, WHILE installing a new tax is this:
IF the 9-9-9 plan is written, (and I’ve heard Herman say this on radio, but can’t find it in print) to require a 2/3 majority in the Senate to raise the 9% National Sales Tax Rate, or the 9% personal or 9%corporate rate, OR change any provisions in the 9-9-9 plan i.e. “People that buy Low emission vehicles get to write off that purchase from their gross income”, would that quell some of your reservations? The beauty of the 9-9-9 Plan is the simplicity, not only as it is simple to the people to understand it. Come on, a government educated 6th grader could understand it; Democrats will find it a little tougher. Currently as explained above, congress throws little taxes (gas tax anyone) into lots of things, gives incentives (EV vehicles, Energy efficient windows tax credits anyone?) to modify personal behaviors, and they go by virtually unnoticed by people. WHY? Because the tax code is so huge, and complex, that it is easily done. So the argument that, “Congress can just increase the 9-9-9 plan to the 13-13-13- plan, or the 40-40-40- plan” is really moot. Yes, they CAN do that (preferably with a 2/3rds majority vote in the Senate and House), but unlike now, where they can slip little provisions, favors, pick winners and losers in businesses, exempt this sort of income, tax that sort of product more, etc, when the Congress says, We want to change the 9% sales tax rate to 10%, It will be noticed. Like a turd in the punchbowl, it will stand out there, as obvious, and the people can let their representatives and Senators know that they do not want to pay 10% in income or sales tax or corporate taxes. Can you see the brilliance of this? It is transparent. Take a crap in a forest with fall leaves all over the place, and the turd is easily missed, but take a crap in the middle of a white sheet lying on the ground, and it’s easily seen and combated.
So in conclusion, although I understand your distrust of the government in putting in a new tax, with the proper restraint of a 2/3rds majority needed to raise it, or complicate it, coupled with the transparency that the simplicity of it allows us to monitor any messing around of the rates and terms, I believe it to be a MONUMENTAL improvement over our current taxation system.
2. It puts in place the system for a full transfer to the FairTax, which eliminates the corporate taxes, and the individual income tax, thereby ending the involuntary taxation upon the production of an individual, and moves it to a voluntary system based on one’s consumption, eliminating the personal invasion of privacy of the personal income tax. As I mentioned earlier, most states, counties and cities already have a sales tax, and merchants already collect the tax, and pass them on to the county and the state. This system is largely in place already, and it is simply a matter of collecting the 9% (later 23% for the FairTax) and passing it to the states, to pass to the Feds.
3. One objection that I want to address specifically is The federal government has no authority over state and local taxes, which is the fatal flaw in the FairTax, and that without a Constitutional amendment the states can successfully sue to stop Cain's second "9."
I believe you are confused as to what the FairTax Plan and the 9-9-9 plan does. Neither affects what states collect, or how they collect revenue. Both only affect Federal taxes, not state taxes. As far as the Federal Government not able to tax consumption, actually they tax consumption already. Booze, Cigs, and gas are already taxed at the consumer level, and collected by the retailer. Now in regards to the actual FairTax plan, it would only be implemented AFTER the repeal of the 16thAmendment. Hope this cleared this up for you Michael. Sorry your friend would lose business as a Tax accountant, and tax liability negotiator, but pretty obvious why he would be against a plan that put him out of business. Perhaps he could use his Master of Taxation, and do M&A work, and make money off of businesses working, instead of manipulating a broken system.
So there you go. Part I in the Reasons I support Herman Cain, the 9-9-9 Plan. I hope I’ve answered some of the concerns about the plan. No matter what plan we have, if entitlements are not reformed, or eliminated, and spending isn’t cut, then we are doomed anyway, and that’s why tomorrow’s segment will be on Social Security Reform
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