CNBC 2015 GOP primary debate: on Tax Reform

Ben Carson: Tithing at 15%, plus removing all loopholes & waste

CARSON: I didn't say that the rate would be 10%; I used the tithing analogy. The rate is going to be much closer to 15%.

Q: 15% still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole.

CARSON: You also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to do some strategic cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and subagencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny in every one of those is in a fantasy world.

Q: You would have to cut government by about 40% to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole.

CARSON: It's not true.

Q: It is true. I looked at the numbers.

CARSON: When we put all the facts down, you will be able to see that it works out very well.

Gov. KASICH: We're going to have a 10% tithe, and just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Folks, we've got to wake up!

Bobby Jindal: Set tax brackets at 25% and 10%, then 2% even for the poor

JINDAL: I'd simplify the brackets to 25%, 10%, 2%, so that an average middle-class family that pays 25% today, would pay 10% under my plan. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2%. That's the most important 2% in my plan. There are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake.

Q: But every working American pays 6.2%, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45% of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game?

JINDAL: You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today.

Bobby Jindal: FactCheck: JFK lowered top income tax rate from 91% to 65%

Jindal was referring to a 1962 speech in which JFK pledged "across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes" for the purpose of stimulating the economy. So is Jindal making a fair analogy?

No, because the top marginal tax rate in 1962 was 91% and JFK proposed lowering the top rate to 65% (compared to a top rate of 37% today). In the context of much higher rates in 1962, cutting tax rates meant something very different than today--Jindal knew that context, and hence was lying about JFK's proposal. No politician of any party today would even consider RAISING tax rates to the LOWER 65% levels proposed by JFK in 1962!

Carly Fiorina: Reduce 73,000-page tax code to 3 pages

FIORINA: How long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington? For decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is, we never get it done. We need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done. Not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done.

Q: You want to bring the 70,000 pages to 3?

FIORINA: That's right. Three pages. You know why three? Because only if it's about 3 pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody.

Donald Trump: Cut taxes by $10T but don't increase deficit

TRUMP: Right. Dynamic.

Q: I talked to economic advisors of both parties. They said that you can't cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit.

TRUMP: Then you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who the other day said, "I love Trump's tax plan."

BUSH: The Tax Foundation looked at all of our plans, and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion [in deficit].

George Pataki: In NY, I cut taxes with Dem Legislature

Jeb Bush: Obama term resulted in $2,300 less in middle class pockets

John Kasich: My plan is no fantasy; I moved Ohio from $8B to $2B surplus

CARSON: You also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to do some strategic cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and subagencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny in every one of those is in a fantasy world.

Gov. KASICH: We're going to have a 10% tithe, and just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Folks, we've got to wake up! These plans would put us trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot while we're coming up with these fantasy tax gains? You have to deal with entitlements. You have to control discretionary spending. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole, and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We are up 347,000 jobs. In Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. We cut taxes, and we have a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left.

John Kasich: No taxes on small business; kill the death tax

Marco Rubio: My tax reform gives more to lower earners, percentage-wise

Rick Santorum: My tax plan reduces taxes for every income bracket

Ted Cruz: Eliminate payroll tax, death tax, business tax, and IRS

CRUZ: Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax; eliminates the death tax; eliminates the business income tax; the 10% flat rate is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has; and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS.