Ben Carson Says He Would Base New Tax System on Sin-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Dr. Ben Carson has proposed a new biblical tax system in which the number of sins a person commits in a year would determine how much he or she has to pay in taxes.
The Truth:
Ben Carson has not proposed a new tax system based on sin.
Ben Carson, a presidential hopeful on the Republican ticket in 2016, has proposed a Biblical-based tax system — but tax rates would not be established based on sin under that tax system.
Rumors that Ben Carson proposed to base a new tax system on sin started after the first Republican debate in August 2015. In the debate, Carson was asked about his plans for tax policy. The candidate responded:
We need a significantly changed taxation system. The one that I’ve advocated is based on tithing because I think God is a pretty fair guy. He said, “if you give me a tithe, it doesn’t matter how much you make, if you had a bumper crop you don’t owe me triple tithes, and if you’ve had no crop you don’t owe me no tithes at all.’ So there must be something inherently fair about that, and that’s why I’ve advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes. If you make $10, you pay $1. Everyone get’s treated the same way. You get rid of the deductions and loop holes.”
Tithing is a biblical concept that is referenced throughout the Old Testament. The concept entails giving one-tenth of your belongings to God — not paying for the number of sins you have. Ben Carson hasn’t gone into great detail about his tax plan, but most experts agree that it amounts to a 10% flat tax.
The rumor that Ben Carson had proposed a new tax system based on sin started with a fake news report that was published after the first GOP debate in August. Newslo, a website that describes itself as a “hybrid News/Satire platform,” reported that Carson wanted to create a “biblical sin-based tax program”:
Asked to elaborate, Carson said: “Well, basically, the system would work something like this: taxes would be calculated at the end of each tax year, or fiscal period, we would decide that later on, and then a person’s earnings would be compared and weighed against the amount or number of sins they have committed during the said tax period. Basically, the number of sins a person commits would be translated into a tax.”
As is often the case with satirical and fake news websites, some readers missed the satire and though that that Ben Carson actually wanted to create a biblical sin-based tax program, but that’s not the case.