Herman Cain Stole 9-9-9 Plan From SimCity?

Would the world be a better place if it were more like the Sims? Herman Cain seems to think so. Herman Caine’s 9-9-9 plan is eerily similar to the tax breakdown in Maxis’ SimCity 4.

Forbes reports that the default tax breakdown in SimCity 4 is 9% for commercial taxes, 9% for industrial taxes and 9% for residential taxes. Cain’s plan calls for a 9% tax rates in corporate, income and sales taxes, so the plans aren’t exactly identical. But it’s close enough to have some people wondering about how much time Cain spends playing video games.

Maxis’ Senior producer Kip Katsarelis told the Huffington Post:

“We encourage politicians to continue to look to innovative games like SimCity for inspiration for social and economic change. While we at Maxis and Electronic Arts do not endorse any political candidates or their platforms, it’s interesting to see GOP candidate Herman Cain propose a simplified tax system like one we designed for the video game SimCity 4.”

So would the world be better off it were played out like the Sims? Katsarelis said that they decided on a 9-9-9 plan so that fantasy mayors could focus on “building cities” and “thwarting giant lizard attacks” instead of concerning themselves with a complex financial system. That’s probably how Cain should sell the plan. “Enough talk about the economy. Let’s just use the 9-9-9 plan so that we can stay prepared for the inevitable lizard invasion!”

Do you buy it? Did Herman Cain’s tax plan for the United States originate from a computer game? It’s not out of the question. After all, Herman Cain has frequently quoted lyrics from Pokeman: The Movie 2000.