GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is coming out with a unique way to push his flat tax plan: He’s putting forward a video that asks viewers which way they would want to kill the IRS tax code.
In it, Paul—who’s wearing jeans and a collar-less tee-shirt emblazoned with “DETROIT REPUBLICAN”—kills the tax code three different ways: He lights it on fire, chops it up with a chainsaw and throws it in the wood chipper. Paul kills the tax code on camera in the different ways as a metallic rock-style guitar plays the national anthem. Paul rolled the video out on Fox News with anchor Bill Hemmer on Tuesday morning.
WATCH RAND PAUL’S NEW VIDEO:
“I think that in Washington people don’t understand as a whole the concept of—and I do it in every speech, I say my tax cut will leave $50 million in Des Moines next year, where would you rather have the money: In Washington or in Des Moines” Paul said in a group interview ahead of the video’s release on Monday evening with reporters from outlets like Politico, the Washington Post and Breitbart News.
People in Des Moines or Houston or where I grew up in Lake Jackson all get it that money would be better spent if left in their communities. The only way to get that is if you cut taxes. In Washington, though, if you’re around here, do you know of any Republican seriously talking about cutting taxes? There’s zero. I mean all the “important” Republicans on all the tax committees want to do tax reform, but what’s your goal? “Revenue neutral tax reform.” I tell people if that’s what we’re going for, I’m going home. I just think you’re not going to stimulate the economy by doing revenue neutral. “Oh well simpler rate will stimulate, simpler tax code.” People leave our country—we’re chasing businesses and jobs overseas because of our tax code.
Paul has put forward an in-depth plan to eliminate the entire current tax code and replace it entirely with a universal 14.5 percent flat tax for all businesses and individuals. In a previous interview with Breitbart News about the plan—which these new videos are meant to draw attention to—Paul noted that it’s the “boldest plan” any presidential candidate has put forward.
“My favorite one was the chainsaw,” Paul said of which way was his favorite to kill the tax code in his group interview about the video, but on a more serious note added that Republicans by and large ranging from Sen. John McCain to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to both former President George W. Bush and former President George H.W. Bush have been bad on taxes.
“I don’t think we’ve seen any real tax plans,” Paul said when Breitbart News asked him what separates his tax plan from the rest of the 2016 Republican field.
When you look back at the last two nominees, I couldn’t tell you what the last two nominees wanted. I don’t think they wanted a significant tax cut or a simplification where you had a single rate. The last person I remember who was actually for something was Steve Forbes and the last president who was actually for something that actually did anything was Reagan, who campaigned on dramatically lower rates and did it.