Mike Huckabee, one of the most conservative Republicans in the presidential race, has embraced one of its most radical ideas: a plan to abolish all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a 23 percent national sales tax.
The idea — dubbed a “fair tax” by proponents — has been a political asset for Huckabee; its well-organized backers have helped catapult him from the back of the presidential pack to its top tier.
“The first thing I’d love to do as president: Put a ‘going out of business’ sign on the Internal Revenue Service,’ ” he said at one debate.
The sales-tax proposal has been around for years but languished on the fringes of practical politics and policy. Independent analyses have concluded that the tax would have to be far higher than 23 percent to maintain the government at current levels.
–Los Angeles Times
