After a dreadful two months on the campaign trail, Texas Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry plans to turn a corner after unveiling a new tax plan Tuesday known as the “Cut, Balance and Grow” plan.
Under Perry’s plan, Americans will be able to choose between their current income tax rate or switch to a 20 percent flat tax rate. In a plan not unlike that of pizza mogul Herman Cain, Perry said the flat tax works to simplify an “incomprehensible” and “complex” tax code and would allow Americans to “file their taxes on a postcard.”
Perry appealed to the younger generation of American workers in a proposal that will surely grab the attention of both critics and supporters. Under Perry’s plan, these young workers would be given the option to own their contributions to Social Security as a new-form retirement package.
The Texas governor also proposed to cap spending at 18 percent of GDP and he echoed calls by congressional conservatives for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. In his plan, Perry said he hopes to balance the budget by 2020.
“It will be an extremely difficult task exacerbated by the current economic crisis and our need for significant tax cuts to spur growth,” Perry wrote. “But that growth is what will get us to balance, if we are willing to make the hard decisions of cutting.”
Perry’s plan, however, fell short in terms of revealing details on whether his new tax plan would generate the same revenues that the current tax code does, something Cain said his “9-9-9” plan does.
“Cut, Balance and Grow strikes a major blow against the Washington-knows-best mindset,” Perry wrote. “Fixing America’s tax, spending and entitlement cultures will not be easy. But the status quo of byzantine taxes, loose spending and the perpetual delay of entitlement reform is a recipe for disaster.”