“I like the idea of a proportional tax — that way you pay according to your ability,” said retired pediatric neurosurgeon and Republican candidate for president Dr. Ben Carson. “I got that idea quite frankly from the Bible.”
“You make $10 billion a year, you pay a billion; you make $10 year, you pay one. That’s pretty damn fair if you ask me,” he said to Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
When Wallace countered that proportional tax plans favor the rich and hurt the poor, Carson responded that “it’s very condescending” to say the poor cannot pay that tax.
“Poor people have pride, too, and they don’t want to be just taken care of,” said Carson, citing his childhood as the son of an impoverished single mom in Detroit.
He said Wallace’s criticism was incorrect because his plan would eliminate loopholes in the U.S. tax system.
A proportional tax system would make it hard for politicians to raise taxes because everyone, even the very poor, would be affected, he said.
