Rand Paul brands himself a ‘Detroit Republican’

Washington — Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul is sporting a black “Detroit Republican” T-shirt in a new campaign ad in which he reportedly burns a copy of the U.S. tax code.

“I’m Rand Paul, and I’m trying to kill the tax code — all 70,000 pages of it,” he says in the ad.

The shirt was a gift he received when Paul opened the Republican National Committee office in Detroit, a campaign spokesman said.

In the ad and in a photo posted to the Kentucky Republican’s official Instagram account a week ago, Paul is standing in front of a wheelbarrow full of reams of paper, which are burning.

“Join me in Michigan where I’ll be talking about destroying the tax code: rand paul.com/events and watch for my new ads where it literally happens,” the senator posted to his Instagram account prior to several campaign events in Michigan this month.

In another version of the photo posted Tuesday, Paul is wearing safety goggles and holding a chainsaw while standing in front of the piles of paper, and next to a wood chipper with paper in it.

“Wood chipper? Chainsaw? Fire? You decide,” Paul posted with the image, referring to how best to destroy the tax code.

Paul favors a 14.5 percent flat tax for businesses and individuals, and eliminate the payroll tax.

While in Michigan on July 10 and 11, Paul visited Highland Park, Shelby Township and Holland, among other sites.

mburke@detroitnews.com

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