By wplog

Published Friday, Dec. 28, 2007 | 5:35 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | 2:14 p.m.

Keyes believes that the tax system that is in place today, specifically the income tax, is contrary to America's freedoms.   He states on his Web site that the income tax funds a "spendthrift" government and takes control away from the American people.  He would end the income tax and establish a national sales tax that would redirect fiscal responsibility into the hands of the people.  According to Keyes this would be the first step toward ending government spending because, "They [government] can't spend what they don't get."   Keyes also believes that the national sales tax is more progressive than the system in place today because those that spend more would get taxed more.  During his campaign in 2004 for the U.S. Senate in Illinois against Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Keyes touted a plan that would exempt African-American descendants of slaves from income taxes for at least a generation for all of the years in which their work was being exploited.

YouTube Video: In a speech from his presidential campaign in 2000, Keyes makes his argument for a tax system based upon the ideals of the founding fathers.YouTube Video: In a debate in Iowa, all the Republican candidates answer the question about which group of Americans pay the most in taxes.

— Las Vegas Sun intern Jenna Kohler compiled this report.