October 24, 2011 9:32 PM

Perry proposes 20 percent flat tax

By
Alex Roarty, Rebecca Kaplan
Topics
Campaign 2012

Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry, center left, walks to a truck Saturday Oct. 22, 2011, before a hunting trip near Merrill, Iowa.

(Credit: AP Photo)

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry unveiled a sweeping economic agenda Monday highlighted by a plan to level a voluntary 20 percent "flat tax" on all taxpayers who will accept it in place of what they're paying now.

The plan, outlined in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column a day before the Texas governor was set to unveil it in South Carolina, also calls for capping federal spending at 18 percent of the country's GDP while allowing younger earners to privatize their Social Security accounts. Taxpayers who don't want to pay a 20 percent flat income tax, he said, can keep their current rate.

Perry offers several proposals that appear designed to sweeten the offer - and to counter criticism that the flat tax is regressive, taking a proportionally bigger bite from smaller incomes. His plan would preserve popular deductions for mortgage interest and donations to charity for households earning less than $500,000 a year. It would increase the standard deduction to $12,500.

Calling his agenda "Cut, Balance and Grow" - a clear nod to congressional Republicans, who have proposed a "Cut, Cap and Balance" budget bill - Perry says his proposal is the best way to cure the nation's ailing economy.

"Cut, Balance and Grow strikes a major blow against the Washington-knows-best mindset," Perry said. "It takes money from spendthrift bureaucrats and returns it to families. It puts fewer job-killing regulations on employers and more restrictions on politicians. It gives more freedom to Americans to control their own destiny. And just as importantly, the Cut, Balance and Grow plan paves the way for the job creation, balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility we need to get America working again."

Special Section: Campaign 2012

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by Andrew_Duncanson October 26, 2011 3:10 PM EDT
Another failed idea by Rick Perry. He is lost.
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by vikinginc October 25, 2011 11:49 PM EDT
This is blind blunder. You want to start to fix the debt? Do you want to see what is important to Americans? Here is an idea I have proposed to both senators and my congressman with no results. If a person has $539 tax return coming you can designate an amount back to the government to the department of your choice. This money would not be extra, just money that would not have to be borrowed. This gives the politicians and the American public as a whole a feel of where our priorities are. The biggest drawback I have heard is we americans don't trust politicians to do what we say. This is putting our money where our mouth or heart is. I would split years between the VA and Dept of Defense.
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by watkinsjr2000 October 25, 2011 8:13 PM EDT
This proposal is idiotic.It's nothing more than a political gimmick. Even Rick Perry knows it has no chance of becoming law. But,if it did it would amount to a gigantic gift for the mega-wealthy while ripping off the middle class (it would greatly increase the federal debt). I think Beavis & Butthead could come up with a better tax plan than this one.
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by amos333 October 25, 2011 7:05 PM EDT
The Government's loss is the people's gain - go Perry!
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by NadePaulKuciGravMcKi October 25, 2011 6:31 PM EDT
Ricky . Willard . Herman
three corporate puppets

Do NOT Believe A Word
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaGNAL_u-SU
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by ruffiannd October 25, 2011 5:47 PM EDT
This is Perry's desperate Hail Mary. As things stand, polls show that the only person the people would prefer less than Perry is Rosie O'Donnell.
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by amos333 October 25, 2011 8:05 PM EDT
Barak Obama is not spelled Rosie O'Donnell.
by wdrussell1 October 25, 2011 3:09 PM EDT
So Perry is going to set us free.

As KRIS KRISTOFFERSON wrote,
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose.
Reply to this comment
by amos333 October 25, 2011 8:06 PM EDT
draft-dodger sentiment
by A_Canadian_Opinion October 25, 2011 3:01 PM EDT
Perry's postcard prop is nothing but spin. If filing your income taxes ever becomes that simple, then the goal of having fairness in taxation is lost. I noticed he said in his speech that the flat tax would be "20% of your income." Does he not realize that the thousands of pages of IRS code and publications have to do with the definition and calculation of "income" as opposed to the tax rates that are levied on that income? I'm pretty sure he does, but notice that he never said anything about how income will be calculated under his plan. Do we really think he's going to make the tax system so simple that you just calculate income however you feel like? Pull a number out of the air, and write it on the postcard? What a pile! Don't fall for it. Vote for anyone else who shows some level of common sense. Don't get me wrong, the tax code needs to be simplified, but that has nothing to do with flat tax vs. progressive tax.
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by MTATL67 October 25, 2011 2:20 PM EDT
Why would I believe a Governor who's own state is $27B plus in debt & borrowing money from federal government to fix the country when he can not even balance the budget in his own state.
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by noloyalisti October 25, 2011 1:27 PM EDT
Perry is yet another bad, clueless, reactionary Republicon who hates the American people.

Flat tax is the most regressive tax and makes the current situation in America that the less you make the more you have to pay as a percentage.

The more you make the more you should have to pay percentage wise because you use all the common resources that we all pay for more. That is why we have a progressive tax scheme that should be made even more progressive.
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