Nine-Nine-Nein

After the 2008 election, some people who supported Barack Obama told me they were shocked -- SHOCKED! -- when he actually did some of the things he said he'd do in the campaign.

When I challenged them with, "Didn't he say he'd do that?" the usual response was, "Well, I didn't think he would."

I don't want to be that guy. But, I'm thinking I may turn out to be that guy.

I'm supporting Herman Cain. The parallel with Barack Obama should be obvious.

No, not the black thing. Cain grew up black, Obama was raised by a bunch of crazy white folk. If elected, Cain would be America's first black president.

No, what I'm talking about is: 9-9-9.

I like a lot of things about Herman Cain, but I don't like the 9-9-9 plan.

On the face of it, that seems odd, since that's all you hear about Cain.

The two biggest things I like about Cain are:

• He's a successful businessman, and we need someone in the White House that understands business. Without that, the economy will, well, do what it's doing today.
• He's a conservative. That means that, when situations arise, I'll more than likely be satisfied with how he handles it.

Those two items are the most important thing about Cain. When compared to the other candidates, he's strongest on these two qualifications. And that's enough for me.

But, what I don't like is the 9-9-9 plan. Or the 9 part. No, that 9. The other one. No, that that one. The other one. Yes, that one. The national sales tax.

Here's the plan:

• Business Flat Tax – 9%
  
  • Gross income less all investments, all purchases from other businesses and all dividends paid to shareholders.
  • Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for payroll employed in the zone.
• Individual Flat Tax – 9%.
  
  • Gross income less charitable deductions.
  • Empowerment Zones will offer additional deductions for those living and/or working in the zone.
• National Sales Tax – 9%.
  
  • This gets the Fair Tax off the sidelines and into the game.

Flat tax rates for business and individuals is a good thing. If you make twice the money, you pay twice the taxes. It's that national sales tax that I don't like.

Opening up one more way for the government to get our money? That's a no-go. You start a new tax, you'll never get rid of it. It took over 100 years for the government to stop billing you for the Spanish-American War.

The saving grace is, a national sales tax may be unconstitutional. If there will be a tax on everything sold, what about land? If you sell property, does the national sales tax apply? If so, it could run into the same problems brought up in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., which ruled that income tax was unconstitutional, and was the impetus for the 16 Amendment to the Constitution. A national sales tax may require another amendment. And I don't want another amendment; every time somebody touches the Constitution, they screw things up. Well, not every time, but in the last 100 years. We don't need another 18th Amendment fiasco, for instance.

The thing most people know about Herman Cain, 9-9-9 plan, is just about the only thing I don't like about his platform. I do want tax reform; I just don't like the national sales tax portion of that plan.

I still support Cain for president. I hope he wins. But, when it comes time to implement 9-9-9, I hope he fails.