I can’t get away from this political stuff for now, but I promise I will comment on any major news in the economic/ investment world if and when it comes.
I heard a small part of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show today. I don’t usually listen. He mostly drives me nuts. He is wrong on many topics including foreign policy, civil liberties, and Ron Paul. However, he has usually seemed to be decent on economic issues.
Well, today, all of that went out the window. I didn’t realize he was so ignorant on economic issues as well. I don’t have an exact transcript of what was said (I’m sure it’s on the internet somewhere), but I can pretty well paraphrase what he said.
Limbaugh was talking about Cain’s 9-9-9 plan. This plan, which I have criticized more than once in the past, was a big topic in the debate on Tuesday night. Cain’s plan is to institute a 9% corporate tax, a 9% income tax, and a 9% national sales tax.
Cain and his plan were criticized during the debate, particularly by Bachmann and Santorum, although I’m sure Ron Paul would have been highly critical too had he been given more of an opportunity to speak. But one of the criticisms of his plan is that politicians in the future could raise the 9% income tax rate.
So Limbaugh brings up this subject on his radio show and he basically says that it is ridiculous to criticize Cain’s plan in this way because you could say that about any plan to cut taxes. He said something to the effect of, “forget the sales tax portion for a minute.” Then he said that you could never support a plan for a flat tax or lower rate with this logic because there is always a chance that it could be raised again in the future.
Do you see where the problem is here? The problem is his statement to forget about the sales tax portion of the 9-9-9 plan for a minute. This is a joke. Excuse me Rush, but that is part of the package plan, so let’s not forget about it for a minute.
If Cain’s plan were simply to reduce the corporate tax rate to 9% and make the income tax a flat 9% and get rid of all of the other taxes with no national sales tax, then I would fully support this plan. As a radical libertarian, I would rather these rates go to zero, but I recognize that a 9-9 plan without the national sales tax would be a vast improvement over what we have now.
But Limbaugh is either ignorant or he thinks his listeners are ignorant (which might be partially true). He pretends that the massive national sales tax is not a part of the plan and analyzes the other part in a vacuum. Bachmann and Santorum were absolutely correct in their criticisms of Cain’s plan. If Cain’s plan passed, future politicians could raise the rates. They could make the income tax rate progressive again. They could make the income tax rates back to where they are today. But here is the problem el rushbo: WE WOULD HAVE A NATIONAL SALES TAX TOO.
I have absolutely no use for Rush Limbaugh any more. He was an apologist for George W. Bush and I’m sure he would be the same way if Romney, Cain, or Perry were president. The only reason I will listen to him at all in the future is just to know what kind of ignorant things millions of people are hearing out there.
I think I made a comment along these lines in another post here a while back (but maybe it was on another site). The 9-9-9 plan is great for the state because it divides up the taxes and makes them seem less onerous, similar to how they divide up a person’s annual income tax by splitting out the income tax from SS and Medicare, only better, since you don’t even feel it at the same time (when doing your taxes). So you do your taxes once a year and 9% doesn’t seem too bad. So much better than what you paid in income taxes before the 9-9-9 plan, right?
So, 10% won’t seem too bad next year.
Meanwhile, as you go about your day-to-day business, that 9% sales tax doesn’t seem too, too bad either. And 10% won’t seem too much different next year.
Similarly, tax withholding on a paycheck-by-paycheck basis serves the same purpose.
I’d suggest that one of the best things that Ron Paul could do as president, which wouldn’t change the amount of tax collected at all (the first year) would be to change the laws so that taxes weren’t withheld by your employer and weren’t due till tax time, and that all of those breakouts (income, SS, Medicare) were combined into a single line-item. So once a year everyone had to pay this enormous tax bill.
This would result in a great awakening of the masses as to just how much they’re being robbed by the government.