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发帖数: 897 | 1 ASHINGTON -- In Herman Cain's America, the tax code would be very, very
simple: The corporate income tax rate would be 9 percent, the personal
income tax rate would be 9 percent and the national sales tax rate would be
9 percent.
But there's already a 999 plan out there, in a land called SimCity.
Long before Cain was running for president and getting attention for his 999
plan, the residents of SimCity 4 -- which was released in 2003 -- were
living under a system where the default tax rate was 9 percent for
commercial taxes, 9 percent for industrial taxes and 9 percent for
residential taxes. (That is, of course, if you didn't use the cheat codes to
get unlimited money and avoid taxes altogether.)
There has been all sorts of speculation about where Cain came up with the
idea for his catchy plan -- Unnamed economic advisers? A clever marketing
promotion pulled from the pizza industry? -- but beyond a few hardcore
gamers in the comments sections of blogs, few have looked to SimCity, the
land where there's a "God mode."
Kip Katsarelis, a senior producer for Maxis, the company that created the
SimCity series, was excited that politicians may be looking to video games
for ideas.
"We encourage politicians to continue to look to innovative games like
SimCity for inspiration for social and economic change," said Katsarelis. "
While we at Maxis and Electronic Arts do not endorse any political
candidates or their platforms, it's interesting to see GOP candidate Herman
Cain propose a simplified tax system like one we designed for the video game
SimCity 4."
Adopting such a simple tax structure, Katsarelis said, would allow fantasy
political leaders to focus their energy on infrastructure and national
security. "Our game design team thought that an easy to understand taxation
system would allow players to focus on building their cities and have fun
thwarting giant lizard attacks, rather than be buried by overly complex
financial systems."
When asked about similarities between Cain's plan and SimCity's default tax
rates, Cain campaign spokesman JD Gordon replied, "Well, we all like 9-9-9."
Rich Lowrie, the Ohio Wells Fargo employee who is the brains behind Cain's
plan, did not return a request for comment regarding whether he is a fan of
SimCity and looked to the game for inspiration.
A receptionist at Lowrie's Wells Fargo office said she doubted his idea came
from SimCity. "Probably not," she told The Huffington Post. "I don't think
he's much of a game person."
Presumably, under the Cain plan, disasters would be turned off.
Ryan Grim contributed reporting. |
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