Texas Republican Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz proposed a flat tax plan minutes before the CNBC GOP debate Wednesday night. Cruz elaborated on his plan during the debate which included auditing the federal reserve.
Summing up his plan in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Cruz claims his plan will “spur robust economic growth and job creation, while raising after-tax income for all Americans; be dramatically simpler, to allow working people to file their taxes with a postcard or phone app; and shrink Washington by getting rid of the rat’s nest of complex tax requirements, credits and loopholes.”
Cruz proposes that for a family of four, “no taxes no taxes whatsoever (income or payroll) on the first $36,000 of income.” However, above that income level, a ten percent flat tax will be placed on all individual income and investment.
Cruz also wants to do away with the estate tax or “death tax” as well as repeal the alternative minimum tax and Affordable Care Act taxes. Additionally, the Texas Republican proposes to eliminate the payroll tax and the corporate income tax. These taxes would be replaced by a 16 percent business flat tax.
“This would tax companies’ gross receipts from sales of goods and services, less purchases from other businesses, including capital investment. Simple, efficient, fair,” he writes.
Finally, Cruz believes a Universal Savings Account will let each American to save up to $25,000 every year on a tax-deferred basis for any purpose.