It’s no surprise that Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is coming under close scrutiny now. Between Cain’s meteoric rise in the polls, and the focus of Tuesday night’s debate on the plan, it was inevitable. Both ABC News and the Washington Post are questioning the numbers Cain is using to describe the current tax burden on a family with a $50,000 household income and what that tax burden would become under 9-9-9. From ABC News:

If you have a family of four with an income of just under $50,000, they could end up paying more under the Cain plan. Currently, they are taxed around $3,850 in income tax. Under Cain’s plan, they would be taxed at 9 percent or pay $4,500.
That’s $650 more.
Although the family would save almost $4,000 in Social Security taxes, it would have to give up the child tax credit worth the same amount. Furthermore, it would pay an additional national sales tax of 9 percent on everything purchased, including groceries and clothes, which totals about $2,000.
That means under the Cain plan that family could end up paying $2,725 more.

The Washington Post analysis can be read here. The Cain campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.