Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says no one in America should be exempt from paying federal taxes.
“I think everybody needs to have skin in the game because it doesn’t make any sense to me to have half of the people not needing to pay, but they get a say in how much the other half pays,” Carson says.
Republican competitor Donald Trump unveiled his own tax plan this week. Trump would exempt individuals who make $25,000 a year and couples who make $50,000 annually from paying any federal income taxes. Carson has not yet released a tax proposal. Carson is considering a flat tax on income and getting rid of the income tax and imposing a national sales tax instead.
“I can see merits in both of them,” Carson says. “…I’m putting out proposals that tend to go toward an income tax that is equal across the board.”
Carson says his approach will be based on the Biblical principle of tithing.
“I like to use 10 percent because it’s easy to work with, so if you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion; you make $10, you pay $1 and you get the same rights and privileges. You get rid of all the deductions and all of the loopholes because that creates inequality,” Carson says. “If that’s the system that’s good enough for God, it’s good enough for me because proportionality is the only thing that’s fair. When you get out of proportionality, you enter your own biases into the situation.”
Carson made his comments this morning during taping of the “Iowa Press” program that airs tonight on Iowa Public Television.