Dr. Ben Carson Proposes 14.9 Percent Flat Tax, Throw Out Current Tax Code

GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, whose campaign is adjusting to new aides in key positions, released Carson’s plan “for reforming America’s convoluted and systematically unfair tax code.”

“Liberty and fairness are bedrock principles of this great nation,” Carson says. “It’s time that our tax system reflected those ideals.”

My plan for a simple, fair and transparent flat tax will not only eliminate the onerous burdens the IRS places on taxpayers, but it will grow the economy. Everyone will be on the same footing, from the largest corporation to the local family business. No one will be able to hide from their tax burden, but neither will anyone be ruined by an incomprehensible tax code. A Carson administration will push Congress from Day One to implement this plan to revitalize our economy through fundamental, common-sense tax reform. We will take the power away from the IRS and put it back in the hands of “We The People.”

Carson’s proposal would end the current tax code, and opt for a flat tax of 14.9 percent.

“Every year the U.S. tax code gets more complex, costing taxpayers more than $230 billion and 6 billion hours just to be in compliance,” reads Carson’s campaign press release.

This labyrinthine maze of regulations and loopholes only favors those with an army of accountants and tax lawyers at their disposal, leaving small businesses and middle class families at the mercy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). At the same time, 45 percent of the households of this country pay no federal income tax at all. Dr. Carson’s plan will create a tax system anyone can understand, replacing every loophole and tax shelter with one simple rate of 14.9 percent.

Carson’s campaign argues that under the flat tax all personal and corporate income is taxed the same so no one can “game the system.”

To help lower income families, taxpayers will only pay the flat tax for income earned above 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. For example, a family of four will pay a 14.9 percent tax on income above $36,375. Families that do not earn more than the allowance amount will be asked to make a de minimis payment, ensuring that every taxpayer becomes a citizen-owner of his government.

Carson’s tax proposal eliminates the death and capital gains taxes because “Americans’ success and investment should be rewarded, not punished by a second round of taxation.”

A press release adds that Carson’s changes would jump-start the economy:

Over the first ten years of this plan, the real gross domestic product is likely to grow by more than 16 percent, with wages increasing 11 percent over the same time. By reducing corporate tax rates from 35 percent – currently the highest in the developed world – to just 14.9 percent, billions of dollars of profits that U.S. corporations currently keep overseas would be repatriated back to America for investment and development. This increased investment will help push our economic growth to nearly 4 percent, a 73 percent increase from the anemic 2.2 percent growth we have today.