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Monday, May 11, 2015

Ben Carson on Flat Tax: 'Condescending' to Say Poor Can't Pay Taxes

GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson defended his flat tax plan on Sunday, saying it is "condescending" to poor people to say they can't pay taxes.

The 63-year-old Carson himself grew up poor in Detroit before becoming a pioneering pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Carson defended the idea, which he termed a "proportional tax," saying he got the idea from the biblical concept of tithing. People making $10 billion a year pay $1 billion in taxes and those making as little as $100 pay $1.

"That's pretty darn fair if you ask me," Carson said.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell the poor people they owe taxes and they will say they can't pay.

Anonymous said...

Sounds the fairest of any way of taxing.

Anonymous said...

it is not fair...it's regressive. Who's going to be worse off? The person who has $9 billion, or the person who has $90.

Go ahead, ask the working guy on the street. "Do you think you should pay the same proportion in taxes that Bill Gates?"

Ben Carson - Intelligent and Ignorant. Dangerous combination.

Anonymous said...

I would have been all for it, but once I get that sweet mortgage interest deduction it doesn't work to my advantage.

Anonymous said...

3:48
Best to pay off the mortgage as quickly as you can. I keep hearing people say they don't want to pay off their mortgage because they don't want to lose the deduction. So they would rather pay 3k a year in interest .....but hey they get back maybe 500 of that.

Anonymous said...

2:48 He should have to pay the same percentage as Bill Gates. If the "working man" wanted more money he should have a skill or an education that would have resulted in a job with more pay. Sorry I have no qualms with someone making more money than I do having to pay the same percentage as me. Stop penalizing success.

Anonymous said...

2:48 $100-$1=$99 not $90. Simple 1st grade math. Second, why not pay some taxes. If everyone had a part in the game they might pay more attention to whats happening with their tax money. When all you get is handouts you dont care about fraud and waste. The poor will keep voting to get their free money and those of us working and paying taxes ged hosed.

Pete da Pirate said...

Why don't you take the time to read Cracking the Code and get back to us with a more intelligent response?

Anonymous said...

A national sales tax, and totally eliminating all federal and state income taxes, would be the fairest taxation. No taxes on food, medical related expenses including over the counter medication, or clothing under a certain dollar amount. The truly poor would pay next to no taxes, those with more disposable income would of course pay significantly more.

I'd also like to see books tax exempt as well, as reading is the key to education.