Rick Perry Hits Federal Tax Amendment and Social Security ‘Ponzi Scheme’
In a book outlining his constitutional vision, Texas Gov. Rick Perry questions the federal government’s authority to collect Social Security and the wisdom of the federal income tax.
The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination says Social Security and Medicare are a “Ponzi scheme” and he’s not sure they are constitutional, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nor is he a fan of the federal income tax; he argues Americans were “snookered” when they amended the Constitution to authorize it.
In his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, published in November 2010, Perry also hits New Deal regulations and Supreme Court decisions finding authority for the minimum wage, union protections and manufacturer regulations, the story says. Liberals, he says, have used the Supreme Court “to wage a gradual war on the Constitution and the American way of life.”
Campaign spokesman Ray Sullivan told the newspaper Perry would not try to eliminate Social Security if he is elected president. He does believe, however, in “a robust debate about entitlements, a debate about extending the retirement age for younger people and for other changes that will make Social Security and Medicare more stable and financially sound going forward.”
