Mother Jones
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So here’s where we stand. Marco Rubio has a tax plan with a top rate of 35 percent that promises to boost our economic growth rate to 3.5 percent per year. Jeb Bush then came out with his plan, which has a top rate of 28 percent and a growth rate of 4 percent per year. Then Donald Trump announced his plan, which has a top rate of 25 percent and a growth rate of 6 percent per year.
Who’s next? Carly? I advise her to announce a plan that has a top rate of 20 percent and promises growth of 8 percent per year. Ridiculous? Sure, but who’s going to call her on it? I mean, what’s Bush going to do? Get into an argument about whose supply-side growth assumptions are the most out of touch with reality?
Besides, she has to compete with Ben Carson, who doesn’t have an official tax plan but has vaguely said he likes the idea of a flat 10 percent tax based on the Biblical practice of tithing—though he’s been a little wobbly on whether his tax rate would really be exactly 10 percent. I guess even God can be improved on.
In case you’re curious, here are the top tax rates on the rich from each of the leading candidates. The most dynamic defenders of free enterprise are at the top, while the losers are at the bottom:
Carson: 10-15 percent
Paul: 14.5 percent
Huckabee: ~17 percent (23 percent FairTax that eliminates the payroll tax)
Trump: 25 percent
Bush: 28 percent
Christie: 28 percent
Rubio: 35 percent
Fiorina: ?
Cruz: ?
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