Herman Cain’s signature 9-9-9 proposal has two problems. First, it’s unconstitutional, and second, it’s not conservative because it transforms Washington from the head of a federal republic into a centralized ruling authority. Cain proposes scrapping the current tax code, and replacing it with a 9 percent personal income tax, 9 percent corporate income tax, and 9 percent national sales tax.

After an unspecified period of time, the income and corporate taxes would be dropped, and everyone would pay a 30 percent (not 23 percent, as some claim) sales tax.