Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for a national flat tax on Tuesday, seeking to reignite a floundering presidential bid by overhauling a tax code that has long frustrated conservative voters.
Under the Perry plan, taxpayers would choose between a flat tax rate of 20 percent or their current income tax rate.
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“It neither reshuffles the status quo nor expands the ways Washington can reach into your pocketbook,” he said in Gray Court, S.C. “Taxes will be cut across all income groups in America.”
Perry’s blueprint also preserves tax exemptions on mortgages and charitable donations for families earning less than $500,000 annually — and increases the individual standard deduction to $12,500. In addition, the Texas governor called for a 20 percent corporate tax rate and the abolition of the death tax.
Perry would allow younger workers to opt out of the current Social Security system in favor of personal accounts, a move that would likely play well in a GOP primary but has backfired on Republicans — most notably President George W. Bush — when proposed in the past.
“We will end the current pillaging of the Social Security trust fund by Washington politicians,” said Perry, who has been criticized by frontrunner Mitt Romney for referring to the entitlement program as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Perry also vowed to balance the budget by 2020, pass a Balanced Budget Amendment and cap spending at 18 percent of gross domestic product.
“The flat tax will unleash growth, but growth is not enough. We must put a stop to this entitlement culture,” Perry said, harping on the recent downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and mounting national debt.
Perry is seeking to contrast his economic policies with those of Romney, who previously referred to a flat tax as a “tax cut for fat cats,” and upstart candidate Herman Cain, whose 9-9-9 plan has garnered growing national attention.
