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D'oh! Which candidate could you possibly be referring to?

Not really. Consider under 999 most Americans will simply have wages and charitable contributions presumably people can subtract ONE number from ONE other number to come up with their taxable income. I say that with the full realization of some of the 'math skills' that have been exhibited in this very thread.
But yes, businesses and the self employed will still need to compute taxable income but again, it will be incredibly LESS complicated due to far fewer deductions and only one rate.

Please know what follows is the excerpted 1st half of a "American Spectator" article I read this am. If anyone wishes for the rest (deals with subbing sales tax with a specific carbon tax),please let me know and I will comply:
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The Missing Piece of 9-9-9
By Green Lantern on 10.13.11 @ 6:08AM

Herman Cain's plan is all fine and good, but a national sales tax won't wash. So what will replace that component?

Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax reform is attracting enough attention to become the focus of this week's Presidential debate. As a plan for overhauling revenues and unleashing the private sector, it's a bold gambit that shows Cain is willing to take chances and shake up the Capital.

The 9 percent business tax is a stroke of genius. It would give us the lowest business rates in the world and would make us the "tax haven" for investment from everywhere. The stock market would barely be able to stay abreast. The 9 percent personal income rate would eliminate all the deductions and put everyone on a level playing field. Tax collection from "the rich" would skyrocket because no one would hide income anymore, but "the other 99%" would make out as well. Cain's plan would fold in the 15 percent payroll tax so the new 9 percent rate would be an improvement - but would end the immunity that the bottom half has from paying any taxes at all. Altogether a good show.

The stickler is that 9 percent national sales tax. That's where things start to fall apart. As other Republican candidates point out, a 9 percent sales tax is an ugly departure from the traditional pattern and raises all kinds of problems.

The sales tax has long been the preserve of the states and is now imposed in all but five of them (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon). The informal arrangement has been that the federal government gets income taxes, the states get the sales tax and local municipalities are granted the property tax. Often they poach. States and even cities have imposed income taxes and have also started trespassing on the property tax. But for the federal government to demand a 9 percent sales tax would be a whole new departure. Combined with state and city levies, it puts us near 20 percent, which is black market territory.

People are not going to pay a 20 percent sales tax on big-ticket items such as cars and appliances. In New York City there used to be a whole underground where stores would sell you a computer and then tell you to pick it up at a warehouse in New Jersey to avoid the city's 8.75 percent sales tax. (This was before New Jersey raised its own levy to 7 percent.) People will be setting up new car drop-offs in the Cayman Islands in order to avoid sales taxes and smuggling would be reborn.

There would also be all kinds of argument about how it would apply. Do you pay it on an $800,000 house? On a $200,000 college education? Many states are trying to impose the tax on services, which immediately gets a buzz from lawyers and other professionals. Cain tries to distinguish between "new" and "used" goods, but that would produce all kinds of gaming too. Plus the tax is highly regressive. Poor people would pay a tax on what they eat. Retired people with no income would be big losers. Plus the whole thing would be a nightmare to collect. The states employ hundreds of inspectors to audit the books of mom-and-pop grocery stores. Would an army of federal inspectors be necessary as well?...

These "Empowerment Zones" wreak of favoritism (for lack of a better word) BUT, he doesn't exactly spell out what they are and what makes them what they are.

It is not a single issue election for me. The invasion of illegals here continues to be a major problem and even though the man from Texas may be strong in the 2nd he seems to be carrying a white flag in the immigration issue. I would want a clear policy statement on immigration before I could stand in his corner. I see lots of posts about his being the strongest on the 2nd but it get real quiet when we discuss the invading horde.

But what do I know? I still like West.

A reasonable piece but I still say his pluses combined with his 'feared' minuses... weighed against the current reality of minuses... still gets a big plus vote for 9-9-9. However, I concur... if he'd rather drop that last 9 and make it 15-15 or some such I'm in! However, that last 9 lets you collect form illegals, and legal visitors, as well as income tax evaders, that currently pay nothing.
I do think his 'black market' is a bit exagerrated. Tourist centers have some of the highest (and I mean REALLY high) 'tourist taxes' on hotels etc... of anywhere in the world. Know of any 'black market B&B's in Orlando?

Again I only heard him mention it once or twice but the premise is, for newly and drastically empoverished areas (like Detroit, not like Watts) that could use added incentive to encourage businesses to come back, a zone would be established with a temporary lower rate. Again, I think it's a well intentioned slippery slope. Not a deal breaker but he ought to just drop it all together. He's not getting Detroit's vote anyway.

Scott....do you truly believe the USofA has the resources,the manpower or even the desire after 20 plus years of talking about it(since Reagan,right?)to deport 22 million plus illegals,(with US citizen born children)back across the border?

I know the arguments and am trying to imagine the solution, using a open and unfettered by bias mind. Right now,I'm just curious, from both a practical and realistic approach standpoint,as to whether the folks who have thought this through,ad nauseum,can really see this monumental financial and logistical nightmare actually taking place.

I think if you'll look at those "lots of posts" you'll see, one fan owns 95%+ of them. But then again, maybe the rest of us just "don't have a heart."

It's listed on his website for his 999 plan. I agree, he should drop it.

Isaac, I have thought about it a lot and as far as I can see there is NO easy or good answer. It must include the securing of our border and that alone is a huge proposition. Then there needs to be a way to fairly get control of those who are here illegally. No one liked McCain's ideas but in reality it was a fair start.

I believe those who are caught in felonious acts and and here illegally should be deported and not allowed back.

nope didn't miss it at all, in fact I love it, talk about doing something for retired folks!

isn't the whole idea to SAVE and invest? eliminating capital gains tax would do "what" for the stock market and business? hmmm my guess is there would be an influx of capital to the stock market and thus business. $$$ for R&D, expansions, retooling etc.


I don't begrudge anyone that's saved and invested and has been successful in doing so.

tis what my Depression era grandparents taught me, work hard, live beneath (not within) your means, save money for a rainy day.

it was others that taught me to try and get that money to work for you. but bless my grandparents for teaching me the steps to get to have $$ to invest.

a dollar goes where it's treated best, in business, in investing etc. bout the only exception to that is when it goes to the gov't. but they force you to send it. if they're gonna force you to, they should force everyone to imo.

until we all have skin in the game, we have different problems as Americans.

the rich's problem is how to buy influence to get even better deals from Congress that they can exploit.

the middle class and yes Virginia 250K per annum is upper middle class, but it is STILL middle class in these days, have to worry how they can lead a decent life and have more money to invest instead of sending it to the gov't

and the lower middle class and poor have to worry about who they can elect to continue all the gov't programs in the hope they can benefit from them as long as they don't have to help pay for them.


treat us all equal and our problems become much more in common with one another, how to get the gov't to live within its means.

We're agreed so far,Scott.

MacLorry...

Why should cap gains be taxed? Capital investment is THE driver of our economy. And so what if the rich get richer....You ever thought about saving money and investing? Ever thought that you could take care of yourself? Ever thought that no cap gain tax could benefit you?

It is hard and I doubt there is any fair and honest way to solve the problem but I am sure surrendering is NOT the way too.

Randy;

Well said.

Damn.You must have just dedicated this whole day to forcing reality into the comfortable world of illusions enjoyed by some who know so damn much about so much.

Bachman just happened on the right #'s by trying to be clever. But 666 would be much closer to reasonable tax rates than 999. Cain's plan allows for continuing to spend at current levels (no income change). We just don't need such expensive government and cannot bear the burden of that level of overhead cost.

Did you bother to read my reply?

"I believe those who are caught in felonious acts and and here illegally should be deported and not allowed back."

I want you and your smart-assed running mate to tell me how in hell our Texas prisons got filled up with illegals if Perry is so "soft" on them.

You can speculate that Cain would have needled the Mexican who brutally raped and murdered a young girl - even against Obama's plea to not kill him.But it is speculation,which is what LSU excels at.We KNOW what Perry did.

The enforcement of our borders is a FEDERAL issue.That's what Perry has said repeatedly.In case you haven't noticed , Obama has already declared amnesty.

What do the law enforcement officers in YOUR states do when they pick up an illegal that they can't charge with a state crime?

Do you even know?