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| Republican Presidential candidate Herman Ca |
If the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows anything, a new challenger has emerged for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
The new poll released Thursday shows Herman Cain leading with 27 percent to Romney's 23 percent. It's four-point boost following a recent debate in New Hampshire with most of the Republican presidential candidates. Keep in mind Cain, a former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and a Baptist minister from Georgia, was only polling at 5 percent as recent as August.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was briefly atop of the polls, but he hasn't performed well in the debates and has struggled to get his message across in an intelligent manner. Perry also doesn't have Cain's "9, 9, 9" plan that would impose a 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent corporate tax, and a 9 percent national sales tax.
In a nutshell, Cain's plan would re-write the entire tax code would include the elimination of the capital gains taxes, estate taxes, and corporate taxes on dividends. He would also eliminate the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. Cain boasts that this plan is "fair, neutral, transparent, and efficient."
But as he continues to surge in the polls, Cain now has the burden of proving his plan is actually going to work. It's already facing scrutiny from a number of media outlets, including Bloomberg, which recently analyzed that his plan would cost the government $200 billion in lost revenue. The analysis also said the plan is unrealistic because it assumes voters and lawmakers would be willing to phase out popular deductions and exemptions. So yes, under this plan you would have to pay a 9 percent sales tax on food and housing.
The plan is also facing scrutiny from the other Republican candidates saying it's unrealistic to think this plan would actually work. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann took it a step further saying once a new revenue stream is opened, it will be difficult to scrap it.
For the record, I have my own doubts that this program would work and would truly create class warfare among rich and poor people - something Republicans and tea party activists have decried recently.
I get the argument about a fair tax system conservatives make by having everyone contribute to the system. But when you have people only making $25,000 or less a year and you hit them with a tax, it diminishes any extra leverage they have at saving for a rainy day and sets them up for economic failure.
It also opens a huge flood gate of people relying on food and clothing shelters and churches. While it's a nice gesture for Cain to say it's a hand-up, it's unrealistic when their budgets have been slashed so much that they have to turn people away.
Meanwhile, this is a tax cut for those in the upper tax brackets who will have more than enough to get by and carry on with their lavish lifestyles, as evidenced by Louisiana Congressman John Fleming. And as history has shown, "rich people" can't and won't carry this economy on their own.
Cain will continue to make this race interesting and I see him continuing at least through Super Tuesday (March 6, 2012 as of now). But with criticisms from other presidential contenders, along with the fact he hasn't raised a lot of money in this race, it's unrealistic to believe he'll make it all the way to Tampa, Fla., and accept the party's nomination for President of the United States.
If Cain can handle the spotlight and media effectively, he might have a chance. I think people see his simple approach to a massive problem refreshing as well as his confidence and at least appearing to be honest. Romney, however, I don’t think he has a chance just like Perry doesn’t because they are RINO’s.
ReplyDeleteHere is where I respectfully disagree with your opinion portion. First, isn't there already class warfare? How do you define class warfare? I see class warfare as singling out a specific group of people and targeting them for higher/lower taxes. Everyone’s vision of success is different and we all have a right to it. By no means should people that define success as being wealthy be punished for achieving it by means of higher taxes. Everyone should pay their FAIR EQUAL PERCENTAGE of taxes based on what they consume and their income and not on a marginal rate based income and class.
Currently, the wealthy pay the majority of the taxes in this country and more and more people are completely ungrateful for their contributions and it absolutely disgusts me.
Second, this whole issue has nothing to do with taxes and has everything to do with ever-growing debt and government spending. Vilifying rich people and corporations are simply a scapegoat for this economic disaster. This .gov link will give you a general overview of where we have been and where we are headed. To me, this looks like a massive spending problem and complete financial mismanagement. When revenues went down due to recession spending went drastically up (stimulus, 99 weeks of unemployment, bailouts, etc) without any positive economic results.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/frsummary/frsummary2010.pdf
I do like the fact that Cain is not a “Washington insider” and when asked about his lack of experience in Washington he responds something like “we have experienced politicians in Washington, how’s that working out for you?”
Hi Charlie. Thanks for commenting on this site.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am surprised you are considering Gov. Rick Perry a RINO. He is, by and large, a conservative Republican who has cut taxes, fought abortion, and believes in states rights. I always thought that name was meant for more centrist Republicans like Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. I am wondering if you consider former President George W. Bush a RINO as well?
As to the class warfare issue, the reason why rich people have been vilified by some Democrats and liberal groups is because of the way some have crippled this country and publicly flaunted it. Sure, they pay most of the taxes in this country dollar-wise, but they still have more than enough money to live lavish lifestyles or invest, as Congressman Fleming pointed out. Meanwhile, you have a majority of people earning $50,000 and under who are more limited but pay a slightly higher percentage of taxes than the wealthiest. All it takes is a little calculating and then comparing the rates, which is why Warren Buffet raised such a stink.
For the record, I also believe there's been a huge financial mismanagement and Timothy Geithner should have resigned long ago and I won't let Democrats off the hook. But many of those same problems existed well before Obama stepped into the White House. Heck, they existed before Obama was even elected into the U.S. Senate in 2004.
What I at least tried pointing out with Cain's "9, 9, 9" plan was that it's unrealistic to have those taxes in place with little revenue when there are a lot of needs in this country like fixing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. Money has to come elsewhere and it's certainly not going to come from speeding tickets or other fines. It's going to have to come from taxes - something former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush found out the hard way.
But as I said, he makes this race interesting and seems to be able to speak to people better than Romney. I could see the potential of Cain securing a Cabinet position if Obama is defeated in 2012 (I only put the if in there because anything can happen from now until then).
Perry IS a RINO but just like Bush he is made out to be a right-winger. Cutting taxes and being socially conservative are small pieces to a big picture and philosophy. Think about it, Perry was a Democrat, supported Carter (Obama is the only person more liberal) and Gore as well as Hilary’s Socialized Health Care idea, supported free health care for illegal immigrants, open borders, and he is a long-time politician that will do whatever it takes to get elected. As for G.W., he also lacked true conservative values like fiscal discipline, securing the border, nation building, NCLB, created DHS and other bureaucracies, and executed bailouts (he was a social conservative but that’s about it). If Bush were president 30 years ago he would have defiantly been described as a RINO or liberal.
ReplyDeleteRelating to your tax concerns, people earning 50K hardly pay anything in income taxes. When you take out Medicare, Medicade, Social Security, and state taxes the person making 50K rarely pays much above and beyond that especially if they have a mortgage, student loans, have children, or meet other requirements that reduce their tax burden. Most actually receive a refund at the end of the year for paying in too much.
Warren Buffet’s profits are all capital gains not income and that is why he is preaching that he can afford to pay more. When people make such statements and believe that our government is the answer and solution they should, with confidence, right them a check and support their government. I believe that the poor economy has led people to blame anyone but the politicians that put us in this mess (Bush included) in this case blame the rich.
My question to you or anyone reading this is what is how do you define who should pay more taxes and who shouldn’t? What is their fair share? When we have this problem again, how much more should they pay? Lastly, how would increasing taxes on wealthy Americans stimulate our economy?
Cain’s plan may not be perfect but it is a foundation for simplifying the tax code and creating a competitive based economy. Fixing infrastructure and growing government simply create more overhead for our government immediately and in the future. These may have some short-term benefits but will end up costing more. In the end, government does not and cannot create wealth because all of its revenues come from the private sector.
BTW, I have never really commented on a blog before but heard about it from a friend. Thanks for posting, I'm finding that it is fun to post my opinion and exchange it with others.