Gov. Rick Perry favors flat tax

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry told supporters in Las Vegas he will propose a flat tax next week to remake the U.S. tax code.

Perry, however, presented no details of his tax plan during a speech to party activists at the Western Republican Leadership Conference following Tuesday night's GOP candidates' debate. One of Perry's newest advisers is magazine publisher Steve Forbes, who made a flat tax the centerpiece of his 1996 bid for the presidency, The New York Times said.

Perry said he wanted to discard "the 3 million words of the current tax code and start with something simple: a flat tax. I want to make the tax code so simple that even [Treasury Secretary] Timothy Geithner can file his taxes on time."

Perry is expected to unveil his economic proposal Oct. 25 in a speech on jobs and taxes, Politico reported. He said voters were not interested in rival Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan to make federal tax, corporate tax and a national sales tax all 9 percent. "What they're interested in is flatter and fairer," he said.