SIMPLIFIED

Rick Perry Unveils Flat Tax Plan

Rick Perry was lost without a tax plan in his last few debates, but he finally has something to offer. In The Wall Street Journal, the Texas governor announces his intention to let Americans choose between their current tax rate and a 20 percent flat tax. The plan would also lower corporate taxes, and replace the current tax code with a simpler formula. “Cut, Balance and Grow strikes a major blow against the Washington-knows-best mindset. It takes money from spendthrift bureaucrats and returns it to families,” Perry writes. Writing at the National Review, conservative policy blogger Reihan Salam says that, rather being a simpler scheme that lets people keep more of their money, the Perry plan establishes a low tax ceiling—meaning mostly that the very wealthy will pay even less in taxes than they do now. The logic of the plan, Salam says, “defies credulity.”