Krugman: Cain Unable

[ProSense]

Krugman: Cain Unable

<...>

But seriously — or as seriously as anything involving Cain can get — Jared Bernstein has a good summary of the reality of nein, nein, nein. The key point is that each of the nines is a tax that would more or less fully fall on middle-income families, who in addition to paying 9 percent of their income in taxes would find their living costs 9 percent higher and their wages 9 percent lower. That’s a 27 percent tax, way above the average federal taxes now paid by middle-income households.

So the Cain plan amounts to a huge tax increase on most Americans, but a huge tax cut on the wealthy.

[pansypoo53219]

1. BUTBUTBUT

it sounds so EASY! even my mom thought it sounded good. i swear I AM NOT RELATED TO HER!!!!! she is a pro-life thinker. we need to make doing taxes PAINLESS. but painful for the top 1%. but do it gradually so they don't notice.

[Jakes Progress]

2. No one ever said republican voters were bright.

Well. Someone might say it, but we all know better.

[ProSense]

3. It's

"No one ever said republican voters were bright."

...not just Republicans. They thrive on gimmicks that fool people, and hope no one calls them on it.

Krugman: A Bit More About Cain

A brief note while waiting for a family member to finish with the doctor: From comments I see that some readers believe that Cain’s second “9″ is a profits tax, which I’ve argued in the past probably falls on capital owners. But it isn’t: it’s a tax on all business income, defined as sales minus purchased inputs and dividends — but with no deduction for wages. So the new element here is, in effect, a 9 percent tax on wages paid.

And the almost universal belief of economists is that taxes on wages, whether paid directly by the worker or by the employer, basically fall on the worker. For those who know their Econ 101, it’s standard incidence analysis: since the overall supply of labor seems to be pretty wage-inelastic, the supply side bears the burden.

<...>

[Jakes Progress]

4. The

people they do fool are people who vote for republicans.