With Herman Cain surging in polls, his trademark 9-9-9 tax reform plan is coming under fire for the first time in one of these debates.
Cain’s plan calls for scrapping the current tax code and replacing it with a plan that has a 9 percent tax on individual income, businesses and consumption.
Asked about a Bloomberg study that found it wouldn’t raise enough revenue, Cain argued that the economic growth it would create and the broader tax base would raise enough money.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., attacked the plan from the right, arguing that it would provide another revenue stream to the federal government in the form of a VAT-like sales tax.
Sen. Rick Santorum also took a stab at it, saying it didn’t have any hope of passing, because nobody wants a national sales tax — and he asked for a show of hands in the New Hampshire audience to see if anybody would support such an idea.
