COMMENTARY | The GOP nomination in 2012 is just a few months away so we're in the World Series of the Republican Tax Reform Games. Herman Cain struck out with his first at-bat, the original 9-9-9 plan, which could increase taxes on households below the poverty line by 950 percent. It was shown to benefit the rich while harming the poor. Cain was at the plate for a second time Friday with reforms to his plan and he's behind in the count with two strikes.
Cain's proposed changes to his plan would eliminate income tax on those living under the poverty line. It would also create "opportunity zones" that would receive different tax treatment.
If you're living at or below the poverty line it's nice to think you'll pay no income tax. Unfortunately for poverty-stricken Americans, the 9-9-9 plan has a combined tax rate that could effectively equate to 25.38 percent. When you read those numbers you can almost hear the Public Approval Ball whoosh over home plate untouched as the umpire calls the first strike.
Nobody and no institution would be safe from this sales tax -- not even nonprofit entities like hospitals, shelters for battered women and humane societies. They would all have smaller effective budgets because they'd pay taxes that did not apply to them before. That means higher health care costs, battered women unable to escape their abusers, and homeless pets wandering the streets.
It could also include churches, which receive nonprofit status in the same way any other entity does -- by filing as a 501-C-3 nonprofit organizations. Get ready for collection plates the size of garbage cans at your local house of worship if Cain's plan applies to them, too. That's strike two.
Cain has also modified his plan to extract more money from the rich as a way to close the gap in government revenue. OK, that last bit is not true. It probably felt good to hear it for a moment, though, right? Let's get back to reality. Nothing in Cain's plan that assists the rich has been changed at all.
The net result is that the rich will pay enormously less in taxes under Cain's 9-9-9 plan and the most of the nation, as much as 84 percent of taxpayers, will pay more. Luckily for Cain the game continues. Let's see what he does with his next pitch.
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