A Fair Accounting of Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax: Laurence Kotlikoff

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidateHerman Cain has risen in the polls thanks, in large part, to his9-9-9 plan, which would replace most of the U.S. federal taxsystem with a 9 percent personal-income tax, a 9 percent retail-sales tax and a 9 percent value-added tax.

Cain’s supporters love 9-9-9’s simplicity and transparencyand think it would do wonders for the economy. His detractorssay it’s horribly regressive. As New York Times columnistTimothy Egan put it: “Cain is proposing the largest shift in taxburden from the wealthy to the poor and middle class in thenation’s history.”