Ron Paul: 'The welfare system helps the wealthy'

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wants to abolish all income taxes -- but he says he'll have to completely destroy the "welfare system" to do it.

During CNN's Republican debate in Florida on Thursday, moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Paul if he agreed with the tax policies that former President Ronald Reagan put in place.

"He taxed too much," Paul replied. "My goal is to get rid of the 16th Amendment and the only way you can do that is not run a welfare system and a warfare system."

"I do want to address the subject about taxing the rich. That is not a solution. But I understand and really empathize with the people who talk about the 99 and the 1 because there is a characteristic about what happens when you destroy a currency. There is a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy, and this has been going on for 40 years."

The Texas congressman added: "So the middle class is shrinking and they're losing their jobs and their losing their houses, but Wall Street isn't getting poorer. And they are the ones who are getting the bailout. So we have to address the bailout and the system that favors a certain group over another group. If you don't have sound money and you have a welfare state, no matter whether the welfare state is designed to help the poor, you know, the welfare system helps the wealthy."

Speaking to conservative Wisconsin radio host Jan Mickelson last August about pro-union protests in that state, Paul explained that "[e]ntitlements are not rights."

"And this is where I’m very encouraged, because I think a lot of young people are recognizing this and they can’t depend on the government," he said. "And some of the people on the left are actually realizing this, some get very angry, but a lot of them now are looking at our views more closely, especially when we can prove that the welfare system bail out the rich and stick it to the poor. And you look at the housing, I use that example, they bailed out the rich and the bankers and Wall Street, and at the same time the people lost their jobs and lost their homes."

"So the welfare system doesn’t work and in truth, pure democracy is very dangerous."

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Jan. 26, 2012.