Rick Perry's Embeddable Tax And Spending Reform Plan: 'Cut, Balance And Grow'

By Susan Duclos

Governor Rick Perry has unveiled his Tax and spending reform plan called "Cut, Balance and Grow" and he provides an overview at Wall Street Journal and downloadable PDF of the plan, Summary, Press Release and the Sample Tax Return (image shown to the left) which is one page. Perry's site provides an embeddable version which you will find below.

From the Summary, this plan includes Instituting Individual Flat Income Tax Rate of 20% where individuals would be allowed to choose between the existing code or the flat tax system, preserving deductions for mortgage interest, charity and state and local taxes, it includes a standard deduction for individuals/dependents of $12,500 and standard exemptions and other deductions are phased out for filers with annual incomes above $500,000.

Cut, Balance and Grow eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits, tax dividends and capital gains, the death tax with no federal sales tax or value added tax.

Perry's plan also reduces the corporate income tax to 20% while eliminating corporate loop-holes and special interest tax breaks and transitions to a territorial tax system and it allows locked-up overseas capital to br brought back to the U.S. at a reduced rate of 5.25%.

The Cut, Balance and Grow plan also fixes the federal regulatory system by putting an immediate moratorium on all pending regulations, setting up a full audit of all regulations passed since 2008 (regulations that fail the audit will be repealed).

Federal regulations will automatically sunset unless renewed by Congress. Each agency will have an annual budget instituted and a searchable database with all regulations in force will be created.

Social Security reform under Perry's plan will include the preservation of benefits for current and near-term beneficiaries, provide protection to the Social Security trust fund, allow younger workers to invest in personal retirement accounts, allow state employees to opt-out of Social Security, gradually increase full retirement age to reflect gains in life expectancy and use price growth to index benefits for higher income beneficiaries.

The plan also addresses Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Last but not least, Balancing the Budget, which includes capping federal spending at 18% of the GDP to balance the budget by 2020, reducing the non-defense discretionary spending by $100 billion in the first year and demand a balanced budget amendment that does not raise taxes.


Full plan embedded below.

Cut, Balance, and Grow

Perry concludes over at WSJ:

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.

Cut, Balance and Grow strikes a major blow against the Washington-knows-best mindset. It takes money from spendthrift bureaucrats and returns it to families. It puts fewer job-killing regulations on employers and more restrictions on politicians. It gives more freedom to Americans to control their own destiny. And just as importantly, the Cut, Balance and Grow plan paves the way for the job creation, balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility we need to get America working again.

Conservative reactions:

The Club for Growth, a conservative economic group, praised the proposal.

Here is the Club for Growth statement:

“Rick Perry’s plan for tax reform would be massively pro-growth,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “A Flat Tax like the one proposed by Perry would unleash years of economic growth if it is passed into law. Furthermore, eliminating the tax on dividends and capital gains would immediately add trillions of dollars in new wealth to the economy, benefiting all Americans. Perry clearly understands that revitalizing the economy should start with a complete overhaul of a tax code that has nearly choked economic growth to death. Conservatives looking for a champion to carry the banner of a pro-growth tax reform will surely rally behind this bold proposal.”

“I continue to be disappointed that Governor Romney has yet to embrace a flat or fair tax,” added Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “He would be wise to avoid using class warfare when comparing his current proposals to those of Governor Perry or Herman Cain. The Club for Growth is looking for bold leadership on tax reform from the Republican nominee – not demagoguery or platitudes.”

Grover Norquist, via Twitter states "Texas Governor Rick Perry's flat tax alternative is a great step forward. Doesn't create a VAT or sales tax that could grow" and "Perry's flat tax has the classic lines of a Steve Jobs' product. Seamless...... and Steve Forbes likes it. I'll take two."

[Update- My initial reactions while reading through the plan] This is a bold plan willing to address the harsh realities of a system that is in place which is unsustainable on many fronts.

Each of the areas, balancing the budget, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, tax reform and regulatory changes are issues that need to be dealt with.

Combined they would work toward the goals of balancing our budget and lowering unemployment by creating conditions favorable to job growth, creating revenue not only through the tax code but by having more workers paying in to the system as job growth commences and unemployment goes down and addressing the entitlement issue to which has been shown to be unsustainable long term if left as is.

More reactions from conservative groups are expected after everyone has had time to read through the plan.

Quick additional Note- I am only showing conservative reactions because in my personal opinion anything that addresses entitlement reform, balancing the budget and flattening tax rates will be opposed on principle by Liberals. If a plan does not include tax increases and spending increases then liberals will automatically hate it. So, it is a given that liberals will hate Perry's plan.

[Update] A few conservative pundit reactions are out, with Hot Air wondering if this could be a "game changer" and Riehl World View saying it is a "comprehensive plan worthy of significant discussion."

[Update] More conservative pundit reactions with Dan Mitchell at International Liberty grading the plan "Some Missing Homework, but a Solid B+," and Bryan Preston at PJ Tatler concluding "Rick Perry’s flat tax plan is a solid and serious effort that’s bold yet well within the GOP mainstream. It avoids gimmickry, deals with the mess that is our current tax code and introduces Social Security reform that could see to that program’s future viability. Overall it is a very pro-growth plan that rolls back much of the damage President Obama has done."



More coming as people dig into the meat and potatoes of the plan.

(Updates and corrections made to this post and sentence structure)

Mr. President, How Dare You...

By Paul N. Marston from www.marstonchronicles.info. I have always thought that any President of the United States of either party, no matter how much I disagreed with his policies, had the best interest of his country and his fellow citizens at heart. He might be going about it the wrong way in my opinion, but there is no way that he would deliberately make life worse for his fellow Americans. Strangely enough, it was an episode in a television series that caused me to change my mind. My wife and I never watch television because we cannot stand the mind numbing insipid commercials we would be subject to if we did. We watch last year's programs that we enjoy on a rented DVD minus the commercials instead.

Thus it was that we watched this week an episode of Criminal Minds called "Coda" that was broadcast last February. During this program I suddenly became absolutely furious as I called our current president every foul name I could think of because I knew what I was seeing was all his fault and his fault alone. It was not that a couple in Louisiana had been kidnapped leaving their autistic son alone that set me off but what the screen was showing had happened to this town in Southern Louisiana instead. This couple was at risk because unlike anyone else in this town they had managed to get a measly $42,000 loan when no one else could do that. This was so unusual that most everybody knew they had gotten this loan and it pushed one desperate man who was losing everything to do something he would ordinarily never think of doing.

This episode was fiction but the economic situation it was depicting is tragically true. What made me so furious was that all this economic misery could be so easily solved by you, Mr. President. The entire Gulf Coast has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs and it is solely your doing, Mr. President. While I know how devastating this has been to the Gulf Coast intellectually, seeing a dramatization of the effects of it really brought it all home. Mr. President, how dare you let these Americans suffer needlessly? Yes, there was an unfortunate oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been plugged and in spite of numerous scare stories in the mass media, the damage to the environment has not been catastrophic. You and your appointees totally overreacted and shut down all drilling in the area and have refused to issue all but a handful of permits since. You have done this even in the face of a court order telling you not to do this. Mr. President, how dare you defy a federal court order and put all these people out of work?

All you have to do to fix this is to issue an executive order and tell your Secretaries of Energy and Interior to quit stalling and start issuing permits. You do not need the co-operation of those "obstructionist" Republicans in the House to do this. Indeed, they would be happy to co-operate on this particular subject. You are the obstructionist here and not them. Mr. President, how dare you continue to drag your feet and keep thousands of Americans out of work? What about that pipeline from Canada that would bring in much needed revenue and thousands of jobs? You could get this approved all by yourself by just telling your appointees to do it.

In order to protect some damn little fish that nobody but a bunch of wacko environmentalists gives a damn about, you have allowed hundreds of thousands of acres of the best farmland in America lie fallow. This has caused an economic disaster in the counties containing this land where unemployment is pushing 40%. A lot of these idled workers are Hispanics that you profess to be so concerned about. Mr. President, how dare you leave these Hispanics literally high and dry? With a stroke of a pen you could fix this and yet you cannot be bothered. You seem to be perfectly content to let Americans suffer because of your ritualistic commitment to the environment. Only an idiot fouls his own nest and we all want to see an improved environment but the environment is already greatly improved from 40 years ago. We should not rest on our laurels but there is no need to be so environmentally conscious that you are willing to let millions of Americans lose their jobs all because of one species here and there that is just not all that important in the overall scheme of things.

You and your ilk make fun of hidebound fundamentalists who believe that every word in the Bible is literally true and therefore the Universe was created in 7007 BC in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Yet you are equally hidebound in thinking that wind and solar power are the answers to our energy needs now when all the evidence says that we are decades away from that happening if ever. In the meantime we need fossil fuels to keep us going. Instead of encouraging more exploration for fossil fuels here at home, you are content to force us to send billions of dollars to countries that hate our guts to buy their fossil fuels. Those billions could stay right here in our economy and provide much needed jobs. Mr. President, how dare you deliberately put us at such a security risk?

There are many people who think you are a closet Muslim and have been foisted off on us by some cabal who is intent on destroying this country and everything it stands for. Ordinarily these people would be totally dismissed as wild theory conspiracists. The only reason they have any traction with this idea is because of your behavior, Mr. President. They say that if their theory is incorrect why is it that everything you do seems to be deliberately chosen to make matters worse for America and Americans? A President who was determined to destroy America would do exactly what you are doing so even if you are not deliberately trying to destroy America, you might as well be in their opinion.

Right now most American businesses and especially the finance industry are sitting on trillions of dollars and not investing in new businesses and expanding old ones all because of you. They are not willing to hire any new employees because you demonize business at every turn. Rightly or wrongly, they believe that you are out to make their life miserable. That being the case, they are simply waiting your term of office out in hopes that you will be defeated and your successor will let them get back to the business of making all Americans more prosperous. Mr. President, how dare you do everything in your power to inhibit business and cause them to stop hiring people who are desperate to find a job?

In addition to your counterproductive economic policies you seem to be fomenting further divisions among Americans along racial and class lines. Anyone who opposes you is a racist yet blacks are only one out of eight Americans so how did you ever get elected without tremendous white support? When you and your supporters are not calling your opponents racists, you are accusing them of being willing to let people die and let murder and rape run rampant when they refuse to throw more money into your redistribute the wealth schemes. Mr. President, how dare you deliberately foster divisions among people you supposedly represent?

All one has to do is read the news to see you in constant campaign mode and never doing anything to help put Americans back to work. All you seem to care about is getting your sorry ass re-elected. Do you even care about your fellow Americans anymore if you ever did? Maybe you do care but it sure does not look like it given your actions. Mr. President, how dare you let us all suffer why you, your family and your cronies are riding high on our dime? You might not be suffering but we sure are. I suggest you get busy doing things to encourage businesses to put Americans back to work instead of beating up on them. We can't afford to wait until we can elect someone else who will do something to ease our suffering.

Republicans Believe Obama Key To Winning Senate Majority In 2012

By Susan Duclos

The Politico has a three-page piece out explaining how Obama is a "drag on Senate Democrats." Republicans believe that Obama, himself, is key to winning the Senate majority. (Page 2)

Yet Senate Republicans believe that Obama remains the key to winning the majority. They mention Obama early and often in fundaising pitches and TV ads, and when a Democratic incumbent or challenger skips an Obama visit to their state — as both Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine did recently — Republicans make sure to portray the president as toxic for Democrats.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that if Obama’s approval numbers stay low, in-cycle Senate Democrats will keep their distance from Obama and his policies.

With the latest polling by Gallup showing Obama job performance approval at a new low for his 11th quarter and that those low numbers are "weak from a historical perspective," Republicans might just be on the track in their perceptions.

Implications

President Obama's most recent quarter in office was his worst to date, and these lower levels of public support could put his re-election chances in peril unless things start to improve in the next few months. Currently, voters say they are more likely to vote for "the Republican candidate" than for Obama for president in 2012, though Obama has generally looked stronger when matched against actual Republican candidates like Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.

Americans' satisfaction with the direction of the country remains at historically low levels, and Americans clearly identify the economy and unemployment as the most important problems facing the United States. Thus, a second Obama term likely hinges on whether there are signs of economic progress in the coming months.

Via the same Politico article linked above, Democrats are betting the farm on Obama's reelection chances getting better once a Republican nominee has been chosen.

“Things will get better for Obama when there is a [GOP] nominee,” said another Democratic insider. “He will be able to show a stark contrast on a bunch of issues, like Social Security, Medicare, infrastructure [spending], jobs [and] taxes. It won’t just be a referendum on Obama, and that will help a lot of Democrats.”

I disagree with this point and find absolutely no predictive value in head to head match up polls yet and I do not believe there will be any predictive value until one Republican candidate is nominated and the party supporters, conservative Independents and/or Independents that have turned against Obama, have one specific GOP candidate to unite behind.

Sure, there will be supporters of other candidates that will refuse to unite behind a candidate they originally were not supportive of but the majority of conservatives will coalesce in support of the eventual nominee in order to remove Barack Obama from the White House in the 2012 presidential election.

I said the other day and I will repeat it here, any GOP nominee will have Obama's own record, now that he has one, to beat him over the head with.

Obama will have to defend his own statement that after 3 years he will own the economy and if it is not better he would be a one term president. (Youtube video of Obama saying it)

Obama will have to defend passing the trillion dollar Obamacare with no Republican support and against the majority of Americans who were opposed to the bill as a whole.

Obama will have to defend the 20 tax increases associated with Obamacare, many of which do not go into effect until after the 2012 election.

Obama will have to defend a $787 plus billion stimulus package that resulted in unemployment being 9 percent or higher during most of his term if not all of it. (The US Unemployment Rate - 1948 to 2010)

Obama will have to defend committing troops to Libya and now Uganda without congressional authority.

Obama will have to defend his massive bailouts. Obama will have to defend his historically high 2011 deficit.

Obama will have to defend the Fast and Furious scandal and the Solyndra scandal.

That is just a portion of Obama's own record and any GOP nominee will be able to exploit each of those weaknesses.

Each of these points can also be used against Senate Democrats when linking them relentlessly to Obama in the 2012 Senate elections.

There are 23 Democratic Senate seats in play and only 10 Republican seats.

Democrats now hold the majority in the Senate with 51 seats, Republicans hold 47 and there are two Independents who generally caucus with Democrats.

The chances of Republicans taking control of the Senate are very good given the high disapproval of Barack Obama and the enthusiasm gap between Republican supporters and Democratic supporters, favoring Republicans with two-thirds of all registered Republicans saying they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year, compared to less than half of all Democrats. Added to that Rasmussen finds, in their generic congressional ballot that "The GOP holds a three-point advantage over Democrats for the week ending Sunday, October 16. "

The farther Barack Obama falls in the polls, the heavier of a drag he becomes on vulnerable Senate Democrats, which is perhaps the reason they are attempting to distance themselves from him.

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