Going Ben-nanas

You know, it's getting to the point where I could just run the blog for a week or six on Ben Carson's FOX News appearances alone, like this campaign stop back on Sunday.

GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson appeared on “Fox News Sunday” where he spoke with host Chris Wallace about some of his more far-out (read: bananas) policy proposals. The Tea Party’s golden boy is known for promoting a number of ill-considered stances, from the healthcare savings account to his fervent opposition of the legalization of same-sex marriage. The most offensively ignorant of these policies, however, is his support of a flat tax rate, in which every American pays the exact same tax rate.

“I like the idea of a proportional tax, that way you pay according to your ability, and I got that idea, quite frankly, from the Bible, tithing. You make $10 billion a year, you pay a billion; you make $10 a year, you pay one. You get the same rights. That’s pretty darn fair if you ask me.” Carson argued. “Now some people say [the flat tax is] not fair because, you know, the poor people can’t afford to pay that dollar. That’s very condescending. You know, I grew up very poor. I’ve experienced every economic level, and I can tell you that poor people have pride, too. And they don’t want to be just taken care of.”

Gotta punish those awful poor people.  If there's one thing all the GOP candidates have in common, it's that people making minimum wage have it too good in the US, and it's high time that we really squeezed the bastards.

“But Doctor, here is the problem with a flat tax in the real world,” Wallace pushed back. “According to the Tax Policy Center, to raise the same amount of revenue we do now, the tax rate would have to be in the low-to-mid 20 percent range.”

That means that low- and middle-income families would get an enormous tax hike while wealthier families would end up getting a tax cut. 

“I don’t agree with that assessment,” Carson said.

Of course he doesn't.  Flat tax means massive, massive spending cuts in order to stop those massive tax increases. Everyone knows that.

Especially Ben Carson.