On Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace pushed back on Ben Carson’s ridiculous proportional flat tax. While Ben Carson believes his tax plan would benefit the country, many leading economists say that a proportional flat tax, like what Mr. Carson proposes, would allow the rich to make off like bandits.
“I got the idea, quite frankly, from the Bible – tithing,” said Carson. “You make $10 billion a year, you pay a billion. You make $10 a year, you pay one. You get the same rates. That’s pretty darn fair if you ask me.”
Watch the video via RawStory.
“Now some people would say poor people can’t afford to pay that dollar. That’s very condescending,” Carson added. “I can tell you that poor people have pride too. And they don’t want to be taken care of.”
Wallace finally responded.
“Doctor, here is the problem with the flat tax in the real world,” said Wallace. “According to the Tax Policy Center, to raise the same amount of revenue we do now, the tax rate would have to be in the low to mid 20 percent range. Low and middle income families would get a big tax hike while wealthy families would actually get a big tax cut.”
There was little Carson could say in response.
“That’s actually not – I don’t agree with that assessment,” said Carson. “Because I’ve been in contact with many economists and, in fact, if you eliminate the loopholes and the deductions, then you’re really talking about a rate somewhere between 10 and 15 percent.”
Wallace was still not satisfied with Carson’s failure to budge.
“I’ve got to tell you that outside experts we talked to, you’re talking in the 20s,” said Wallace. “For instance, you talked about low-income families. Not only don’t they pay, they actually get an earned income tax credit. Now you’re going to have them paying 10 to 15 percent of whatever income they have, or 20 percent if my experts are right.”
“I’ve got to tell you, a lot of independent studies say that the people who make out like bandits are the wealthy,” Wallace concluded.
