If you asked anyone a couple weeks ago, I’d be surprised if they considered the election appeal and value of Herman Cain to be significant. Recently, Cain’s popularity boosted with the proposal and support of his 9-9-9 economic plan. The 9-9-9 plan has become his starting pitcher and long ball hitter for his campaign. However, the argument hovering around the plan is if the proposed plan actually holds water. Economic specialists have been toying with the plan and are trying to determine and outcome for whether or not the plan will work as Cain suggests that it will.
Cain is promoting this plan on the belief that the 9-9-9 will directly put more money into Americans’ pockets with a flat tax system. For some Americans, that may be true- but for others it is a continuation of unfair tax harassment. An article written by Jackie Kucinich of USA TODAY quotes Mike Franc’s speculation that the 9-9-9 seems amazing now, but is inevitably subject to inflation. As inflation rises, the 9-9-9 plan can easily rise too, becoming 18-18-18 or even higher. I’ve put the link to this article at the bottom of this posting.
Another side effect of the 9-9-9 plan is around who is benefitting the most from it. With Cain’s plan, the rich would receive tax breaks, and heavy burdens would be placed on the lower class- people who are looking to receive a little relief from the confusing and overbearing tax system as it is.
In a separate article by McClatchy- Tribune News Service (link below), Bruce Bartlett, of George Bush (senior) era, says that with the 9-9-9 plan "the poor would pay more while the rich would have their taxes cut, with no guarantee that economic growth will increase and a good reason to believe that the budget deficit will increase.” The article goes on to explain that “That's because two of Cain's three 9s -- the income tax and the national sales tax -- would disproportionately affect the 47 percent of tax filers who don't pay any federal income tax under the current system -- many of whom are elderly or poor. The extra money paid by these people would in effect subsidize the huge tax break for wealthier Americans who currently pay as much as 35 percent in federal income tax.” (http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/10/will_herman_cains_9-9-9_tax_pl.html)
With this hazy future of the 9-9-9 plan, is this something that Herman Cain should be using as his forefront issue and his most popular campaign mission? If the American public continues to support this candidate only on this issue, who is responsible if the plan is not executed or delivered the results it hoped for? This brings me back to “belief”. The plan seems to offer little facts, but how can it be supported and boost his ratings in the race for the presidency if there are no clear cut facts yet? Is this the same as the Obama “HOPE” message? With Obama’s low approval rating now, doesn’t that say that what people voted for was never seen? I’ve been confused and questioning this in terms of politics myself this whole week. I suggest the way to avoid this confusion is directly from the candidates themselves, not with ideas, but clear execution and fact.
Cited from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/2011-10-10/herman-cain-9-9-9-tax-plan/50723976/1
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