Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Flat Tax Plan Has Skyrocketed His Campaign to the Top For Now (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | For 2012 Republican presidential nominee hopeful Herman Cain, it might have been good thing that his nontax-related views have been eclipsed by the swelling popularity of his signature initiative, the 9-9-9 plan. Cain's desire to potentially electrocute people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, for example, (which later became a joke, before it stopped being a joke again) has largely been ignored, obscured by the shadow of his tax reform strategy. The appeal of 9-9-9, however, may soon wear thin under increasing scrutiny.

Cain and his team of economic advisers, which seems to consist of one person, a banker named Rich Lowrie, have come up with a tax plan that leaves even conservative economists puzzling over whether such a proposal is sustainable long term. Fellow Republicans, most vocally his political rivals for the presidential nomination, have assailed 9-9-9, characterizing it during the Tuesday debate as a thinly disguised impending tax increase.

Aside from the daunting feat of entirely overhauling the U.S. federal tax code and overcoming opposition from within the Republican Party, 9-9-9 has also garnered criticism from the outside and would likely not fare well enough at the polls during a general election for Cain to ever have to worry about the mechanics of implementing his plan.

Critics have pointed out the plan would leave the lower and middle classes paying considerably higher taxes, a deeply unpopular idea. One analysis concludes 9-9-9's lack of tax credits and exemptions would equal "a huge tax hike for the working poor and a substantial tax increase on the labor income of the middle class." Even more unpopular, the wealthiest Americans, currently taxed at roughly 35 percent, would see a dramatic reduction of taxes paid under such a low flat rate. A separate analysis indicates the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans would save over $210,000 annually based on the plan.

With growing angst over wealth disparity and high unemployment, encouraging a plan that increases the tax burden of the lower and middle classes, while lowering taxes for the rich seems ill-advised. A recent Gallup poll indicates nearly two-thirds of Americans favor raising taxes on the wealthy as a means to promote job growth, and 70 percent approve of raising taxes on some corporations by eliminating tax deductions.

Cain's plan may have given him star power, but in the future will no doubt find itself under intensifying criticism. Accusations that 9-9-9 is a deeply flawed handout to the rich funded by the working class will need to be met with more than repetitive slogans. Perhaps having a one-man economic advisory board (Cain does claim to have more than one adviser, although the rest of his team remains conveniently "confidential") is responsible for Cain's most popular idea drawing ire from all ends of the political spectrum.

If Cain continues to rest his campaign on a single talking point, his status as a front-runner will likely be as short-lived as Rick Perry's.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111019/us_ac/10238447_herman_cains_999_flat_tax_plan_has_skyrocketed_his_campaign_to_the_top_for_now

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