Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain pulled off an upset victory in the Florida straw poll over the weekend, campaigning on his 9-9-9 plan to cut taxes.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO won the poll by 22 points over Texas Governor Rick Perry, with 37 percent for Cain versus 15 percent for Perry and 14 percent for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Cain said on NBC’s “
Asked by co-anchor Ann Curry about how he would get corporations to start investing the $2 trillion in cash that they are sitting on to get the economy moving again, Cain drew a distinction against his rival candidates.
“Unlike all of my competitors in this race, they are trying to tinker around the edges to recommend a fix based upon the Tax Code,” said Cain. “My plan starts with throw out the Tax Code. It’s bold because this economy is on life support. And then pass my 9-9-9 plan: a 9 percent business flat tax, a 9 percent personal tax and a 9 percent national sales tax. It will replace the payroll tax, corporate and personal income taxes, the capital gains tax, and it will also replace the death tax.”
Cain added that the plan provides more certainty for businesses and they won’t be penalized for repatriating trillions of dollars in profits. “Certainty is what the American business community is looking for,” he said.
Cain was also asked about a Saturday Night Live spoof of the Republican presidential candidate debates over the weekend, which poked fun at his background in the pizza business. He said he loved the spoof so much he might even start using a slogan from the skit: “Vote for me and I will deliver.”
“I will take that and run with it,” said Cain. “I couldn’t have come up with a better one myself.”
