Laffer WSJ Essay On Cain's 9-9-9 Plan

OS in the midst of a long season of grinding work on little details--these seasons come and go. It is so good to look at them in retrospect, however, rather like the author who declares' 'I love to have written.'

In the meantime, OS will try to keep sharing tidbits of insight from better minds than his, in this case, Arthur Laffer's WSJ essay in support of the Cain 9-9-9 plan.

Laffer was a key advisor to President Reagan, and architect of the economic revival that finally took hold in the 1980's. For those who lived through 1980, we remember just how grim it was, and all of it-all of it--a direct result of governmental venality and ineptitude. This article is worth the read.

One of the grinding tasks of these weeks has been the family tax return. It is complex, laborious, depressing work. At the bottom of the form 1040, the summation of all the other forms, is the signature line. It states that the taxpayer, under penalty of perjury under the federal tax code, certifies that the return is accurate. OS and Mrs. OS signed, and we both sleep well at night over the declaration, but there is really no way to know whether the return is inside or outside the lines of the law. It's too complex, and the numbers can be sliced any number of ways. The productive time robbed from the family in compliance with the tax code is galling.

All this to say: OS loves his country, and is grateful to pay taxes to it. Even if 9-9-9 increases his tax bill, if it reduces the administrative burden as advertised, it is a wonderful trade-off.

Please, take 9-9-9 for the privilege of citizenship. Otherwise, leave OS alone, and let him go make more money to extract 9-9-9 from.

Herman Cain's 9-9-9: Denninger Does Math, OS Does Brunch

There is an increasing public conversation about Herman Cain's proposal for a radical restructuring of the US Tax Code, known as 9-9-9: 9% personal rate and corporate rate, 9% capital gains rate, 9% national sales tax.

The reaction to Cain ranges from the dismissive to the hysterical, but Denninger discusses the math.
To be sure, this gent gets wound up about everything, but get past that, and he makes sense, because he does know how to do math.

OS thinks this approach holds much promise, if coupled with dramatic reductions in government expenditure.

And, on a visceral level: OS loves his country, and knows that it takes money to run it. That's why we should levy taxes--to raise money to run the country. The present tax code is so completely Byzantine that when OS signs on the line above the phrase 'Under penalty of perjury, etc.', he honestly does not know with complete certainty whether the return is truly correct or no. All he can do is make his best effort and hope. It eats up days of productive time each year, and creates huges worries.

President Cain could sign 9-9-9 into law, and OS would cheer. Every time OS has money arrive, he can multiply the income by .9, and send that much in to Uncle Sam.
A one page tax-return is all that would be required.

If 9-9-9 isn't enough, make it 10-10-10, or 12-12-12. Just take our money, spend it wisely, and leave us alone otherwise. We'll all prosper thereby, as OS was relating to his young friend the RestaurantOwner, over brunch this morning...

RestaurantOwner employs twelve people, and has other business interests as well. The Federal gubbmint is beating him around the ears financially, while proclaiming 'it's all about job creation, yadda-yadda-yadda.' RestaurantOwner is attracted to Cain as well, because it will allow him to work and expand his business, and have time for his wife and family.

Increasingly, OS thinks Cain laps the field of the other candidates. His ideas are long overdue. We're headed over the cliff unless we change direction.