Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Mauff at Jacob.Mauff@colorado.edu.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the next GOP debate will be held this Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Coors Events Center. This debate will focus specifically on the economic plans of the candidates.
With some candidates, it’s easy to predict what will be said during the debate. With others, it’s hard to speculate the conversation. One such example of the latter is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz is polling as the fifth most favorable presidential hopeful, behind Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, but has not formally announced all the nuances to his financial plan. But the general idea is clear: a flat tax.
When he was first elected to the Senate, Cruz wanted to abolish the IRS. Today, he still wants to do this. According to his plan, his tax system would be so simple another department of the Treasury Department could handle collecting taxes.
This flat tax idea is not unique to Cruz. Fellow Republican candidates Ben Carson and Rand Paul also propose flat taxes. However, each has developed his to specific percentages of income — Cruz still has not specified how much that flat tax would be. He only speaks of a simple tax system that would allow Americans to file their tax returns on a postcard.
In addition to abolishing the IRS, Cruz wants the Federal Reserve to be audited. He co-sponsored the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. This called for the Federal Reserve to be financially investigated and the findings to be made public.
Cruz has other philosophies for taking on the economy. He signed the Contract From America, a Tea Party-backed agreement, consisting of 11 main points. Among them is support for a balanced budget amendment.
The contract calls for a simpler tax system, just like Cruz. He said at the 2012 Republican National Convention, “This election presents a stark choice. Two visions: we can continue down the road of the Obama Democrats, towards more and more spending, debt and government control of the economy and our lives. Or we can return to the founding principles of our nation- free markets, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty.”
Cruz will hopefully reveal his specific economic plan on Wednesday. If not, he may fall well behind his opponents.
