Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Don’t disregard Cain’s candidacy

Eugene Robinson is entirely too eager to dismiss Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in his column, “The GOP’s flavor of the week,” but it’s easy to see why liberals fear Mr. Cain and his 9-9-9 tax plan.

If that tax plan is enacted, it would profoundly change politics, and not in a good way for politicians, hence the conservative interest.

First, it would throw out the federal tax code and substitute a

9 percent flat tax. Setting aside the tax revenue question, the main effect would be to drastically curtail politicians’ ability to purchase votes from special interests with tax law favors. This alone, plus the enormous savings in tax preparation work, would have my vote.

Then there would be a

9 percent national sales tax. That would mean we would be paying

9 percent of our incomes plus a

9 percent tax on what we spend.

This is a lot more subtle than it seems. All of a sudden there would be a 9 percent tax on the so-called underground economy of cash payments. This would truly be “found money.” Also the 47 percent of earners not currently paying tax to the federal government would start paying also.

Finally, lowering the corporate tax to 9 percent would make business more competitive and profitable.

Cain is a successful businessman who is well spoken and clearly very smart, and I think he is well positioned to lead our country out of the current morass.

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