Cain to scrap minimum wage in poor areas?

WASHINGTON?? Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain will propose an addition to his signature tax reform plan on Friday to help battered inner cities rebuild their economies.

The former Godfather's Pizza CEO, who has rocketed to the top of Republican polls, will announce in a speech in Detroit a plan to create "opportunity zones" in cities to foster small businesses and create jobs.

The proposal answers criticism that his 9-9-9 plan to limit personal and corporate income taxes to 9 percent and create a 9 percent national sales tax would hurt poor Americans.

"We carved out a substantial amount from the aggregate 9-9-9 Plan tax base, enough to exempt those in poverty, and we will work with Congress to best apply these in a way to break the 'poverty trap' and replace it with positive incentives that encourage people to work and take risks in this economy," Cain said in a statement released ahead of the speech.

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Video: Cain on 9-9-9: Some will pay more (on this page)

Cain has taken some heat for his plan because experts say it would increase taxes on middle-income Americans, mostly by introducing a national sales tax for goods and services, which has been deeply opposed by conservatives.

Fox News said Cain's opportunity zone plan risks angering unions because it would enact policies they consider bad policy, such as the elimination of the U.S. minimum wage.

A document posted on his website, entitled "Cain's Vision for Opportunity Zones: Renewing Cities Across the USA", said that minimum wage laws "prevent many unskilled and inexperienced workers (i.e. teens) from getting their first job and prices them out of the market."

It said that the goals of the zones included renewing "distressed inner cities by reversing counter productive incentives and bureaucratic micromanagement by re-introducing market based entrepreneurship."

They would "create the most productive environment, rather than trying to control outcomes."

The document also said that "all building codes, regulations, restrictions, and requirements should be reviewed from the standpoint of whether they impede economic growth."

Story: Should all Americans pay income tax?

Meanwhile, Cain clarified his position on abortion Thursday, a day after saying he opposed the procedure but didn't believe the government or other people should have a role in the decision to terminate a pregnancy.

Cain issued the statement after rival Republican candidate Rick Santorum accused the Georgia businessman of holding a view common to supporters of abortion rights and said Cain was not a true conservative. It was the third time in less than a week that Cain had made a statement only to take it back after facing criticism.

Cain says Social Security 'immoral'

In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Cain said he believes life begins at conception. "And abortion under no circumstances," he added. But Cain also said "it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision."

Asked whether his personal views would become a "directive to the nation," should he become president, Cain said they wouldn't.

"I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation," he said. "The government shouldn't be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make."

Campaigning in New Hampshire on Thursday, Santorum accused Cain of misleading voters about his conservative credentials.

"It's basically the position that just about every pro-choice politician has in America," Santorum told The Associated Press. "I don't know too many pro-choice politicians who are for abortion, who want more abortions ... but they say the decision is a choice the government shouldn't be involved in."

Santorum added: "That is Herman Cain's position, which does not make him pro-life. That is the quintessential pro-choice position on abortion."

Study: Cain plan would only help rich

In a statement released in the wake of Santorum's remarks, Cain said he thought he was being asked on CNN whether he would, as president, "order" people to not seek abortions.

"My answer was focused on the role of the president. The president has no constitutional authority to order any such action by anyone. That was the point I was trying to convey," he said. "As to my political policy view on abortion, I am 100 percent pro-life. End of story."

Cain said he would do "everything that a president can do, consistent with his constitutional role, to advance the culture of life."

Cain has walked back two other statements recently.

A day after saying that he wanted a potentially deadly electrified fence to keep out illegal immigrants, he told NBC News on Sunday that he had been joking.

Video: GOP rivals slam Cain?s 9-9-9 plan (on this page)

On Tuesday, hours before a GOP candidate debate, Cain told CNN that as president he would negotiate for the release of American hostages held by al-Qaida in exchange for all prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba.

He later said he had misunderstood the question and that he would not negotiate with the terrorist group.

Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, has been campaigning aggressively in early voting Iowa, where he gets high marks from conservative activists but registers little support in public polls.

Cain, meanwhile, has been rising in the polls, both in New Hampshire and nationally.

Reuters, NBC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44985289/ns/politics-decision_2012/

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