For Most, Cain's '9-9-9' Plan a Tax Hike

Herman Cain is being dishonest in touting his “9-9-9” plan, positioning it as some kind of tax cut, when “in reality tens of millions of lower income Americans would face tax increases,” Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler has concluded, giving Cain three out of four Pinocchios. The plan would replace the tax code with a 9% corporate tax, 9% income tax and 9% federal sales tax, which would amount to a big tax cut for the wealthy, who spend little of their income, but a big tax increase for most other families, since it eliminates the deductions they rely on.

“Just like it would be wrong to claim pizza is a low-calorie meal, Cain’s description of the plan’s impact on working Americans is highly misleading,” Kessler concludes. The plan was dealt another blow yesterday when one of Cain’s own consultants told Politico that, contrary to Cain’s assertions in the debate, the plan was not practical, because it’s “so alien to the current system that it would be a great shock,” and that while it was a fine plan economically, it “wouldn’t be the one I picked." (More Herman Cain stories.)