Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Sunday defended his "fair tax" plan and other positions in an interview with his former employer, Fox News.
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace challenged Huckabee on his support for the consumption tax that he proposes to replace income, estate and gift taxes.
Huckabee said reports are untrue that what is essentially a federal sales tax would hit the poor the hardest since sales taxes for food and other necessities take up a larger percentage of their income than it does for those who earn more.
"They have it exactly wrong," Huckabee said. "It is the bottom third of the economy that benefit the most from the fair tax and the people in the top third that benefit least."
A "prebate," he said, "untaxes people for their necessities," thereby, aiding the poor.
Huckabee also was asked about his change in position on raising the age of Social Security benefits to 70 for people currently 55 or older. Huckabee said in 2011 he favored the change, but now says the government shouldn't renege on a promise that some workers have had for 40 years of their work lives.
'This was not a voluntary extraction from their paycheck," Huckabee said. "It was involuntarily lifted from them, under the guise that the government would then provide for them their money back in that Social Security or Medicare fund."
If the government starts breaking promises now, "it adds to the distrust that people have of government," Huckabee said, adding that any changes to future eligibility should be placed on those just now entering the workforce.
Asked about his statements that he might not obey some Supreme Court rulings, Huckabee said the country operates under the principle of "judicial review," but not "judicial supremacy."
"The Supreme Court is not the supreme branch, and, for God's sake, it isn't the Supreme Being," he said.
He again took a swipe at former Secretary of State Hillary Cinton, the expected Democratic nominee, saying emails on her private server are "very troubling, especially because we have yet to get an answer to what happened in Benghazi."
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