Nein Nein Nein!

Stephen explains Cain’s tax and immigration policies

 As pizza magnate Herman Cain moves to the front of the GOPer presidential pack, his proposals for fixing everything from the nation’s economic woes to its immigration problems have come under increasing scrutiny. While Herman seems undecided over whether to span the country’s 1951 mile long southern border with Mexico with a lethal electrified barb wired fence or a moat full of snapping alligators (land mines would be cheaper), he does seem more certain about his tax reform and economic plan — forever branded as “9-9-9.”

In our previous post Herman Cain: Bizarro World’s Robbin’ Hood (Koch Bros Update), we noted the regressive nature of the proposal.  Since then, a number of economists have crunched the numbers and find that everybody making less than $200,000 will have their taxes increased, while those above that level will enjoy a tax cut.  The poorest of the poor will pay the most, an increase of 20%, while the richest of the rich will be paying 20%+ less than they’re paying now.

Firedog Lake’s David Dayen, who provided the chart above, comments on some of the implications of Herman’s vision for America:

In last night’s debate, Cain mumbled something about “empowerment zones,” which would rebate some level of tax if you live in a poor neighborhood. This would be a developer’s dream, to force poor people out of their own neighborhoods, suddenly desirable because of the tax benefits. There’s simply no way to make that work. The idea that “used goods” would have no sales tax does little for people trying to buy food, unless the idea is literally to have people eat shit, for the tax break.

Eat shit, indeed. Sounds like a bumper sticker in the making.

[Editing note: Added better res graph, with attribution]