And because I’ve got emails about it, I’ll do a bonus on Monday: Ron Paul.

The basics of economic plans from Mike Huckabee

• Get rid of income tax and replace it with a “Fair Tax.”
• Expand Bush tax cuts.
• Increase spending on defense and infrastructure.
• Protect American jobs from “unfair” foreign competition.

Maybe I’m not being fair, but Huckabee’s economic plans seem to be much less developed than the three I’ve posted on so far. And it doesn’t seem to make sense, since  I’m not sure how to pay for increased spending with tax cuts.

What do you think of economic plans by Mike Huckabee?

Other posts in this series:

John McCain 

Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton 

Post from: EveryJoe

Presidential Candidates Economic Plans: Mike Huckabee

With tax season coming up, and with presidential candidates talking about tax plans (Mike Huckabee is especially vocal about fair tax), this is an exceptionally timely and relevant question. Here are the basic differences:

Fair Tax

This is a term that indicates an end to all taxes collected by the government, save a national sales tax of sorts. This national sales tax would be collected on every new purchase made. As of now, there are “prebates” offered to those with less money, since sales tax often means that those with less spend more. Additionally, there is no separate rate for grocery food items (something I would like to see).

Mother Jones offers an interesting look at the fair tax.

Flat Tax

A flat tax is one in which the same income tax rate is set for everyone, usually expressed as a percentage of income, such as 10% or 15%. Or higher. The idea is that it would “fairer” if everyone paid the same percentage of their income. Of course, it doesn’t address the problem that 10% of $20,000 is still a bigger hit to someone’s ability to live than 10% of $200,000 is to someone else’s…

Wikipedia offers an article on the flat tax, and Taxgirl has an interesting look at Fred Thompson’s flat tax plan, along with a guide for plan interpretation among other candidates.

Do you like one or the other better? Do you have a tax code solution?

Post from: EveryJoe

Ask the Piggy Pank: Fair Tax v. Flat Tax