Rick Perry Reveals Republican Philosophy On Inequality

by Stuart Shapiro

Interviewed by John Harwood of the New York Times, Governor Perry defended his flat tax plan (h/t Kevin Drum):

Harwood: Your plan — by cutting the top rate to 20 percent, eliminating dividends and capital gains taxes, would provide a huge tax cut to wealthy people. Given what’s happened with income inequality, why is that a good idea?

Perry: We’re trying to get this country working again. And that’s what I focus on. We went through what are the ways to really give incentives to those that are going to risk their capital to create the jobs. Those that want to get into the class warfare and talk about, oh my goodness, there are going to be some folks here who make more money out of this, or have access to more money, I’ll let them do that.

Harwood: But for those at the top, it is hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars for them?

Perry: But I don’t care about that.

He gets points for honesty.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.