Figuring out Rick Perry’s current position on the 16th Amendment and the so-called Fair Tax is the parlor game of the moment in politics. See Greg Sargent here, and CBS here. His campaign released a recent statement suggesting that though Perry backs the “Fair Tax” option in his book, altering the Constitution and implementing an actual national consumption tax is probably too heavy a lift.
“The 16th Amendment instituting a federal income tax starting at one percent has exploded into onerous, complex and confusing tax rates and rules for American workers over the last century,” reads a statement from Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “The need for job creation in the wake of the explosion of federal debt and costly entitlement programs, mean the best course of action in the near future is a simpler, flatter and broader tax system that unleashes production, creates jobs, and creates more taxpayers. We can’t undo more than 70 years of progressive taxation and worsening debt obligations overnight.”
Emphasis added. This brings Perry closely in line with the rest of the GOP presidential field. In his book he advocated either a flat tax — as opposed to a flatter tax code — or the 16th-repeal/Fair Tax option.
When reporting this story, I asked Miner whether Perry had a preference between the two based either on the substantive merits, or the political feasibility of the proposals. His statement doesn’t answer the question explicitly, but the implication is clear: Perry wants to do what he can for now, save the truly dramatic stuff for later.
This reflects a common tension between ideology and governing, but it’s worth pointing out that Perry hasn’t abandoned his quest for the holy grail — much like a liberal who would prefer single payer health care to ObamaCare, but will accept the latter for the time being.
Get the day’s best political analysis, news and reporting from the TPM team delivered to your inbox every day with DayBreaker. Sign up here, it takes just a few seconds.
