I read about the flat tax proposal many years ago. I can't remember much about it.

I came across this post tonight:

Flat Tax Is Class Warfare
System’s simplicity hides the further shifting of the tax burden to the poor and middle class
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/ ... ss-warfare


But I know I read some better stuff.

where?

Don't know if it's better, but this numbnuts has been touting "fair" tax for years.

http://www.boortz.com/s/fairtax/

Let us see - 10% at 20K per year - 2000.00
10% at 100K = 10,000.00

Wouldn't it be better if the folks who don't have money in the first place not to have so much of their income taxed? At 100k you can make a good living off the 90K.

When we were youngsters, I had a cousin who would try to get the other cousins to give him dimes in exchange for nickels. Since nickels were so much bigger, it would be a good deal for us or so he argued.

When I hear these people talk about the flat tax and other schemes to shift the burden to those who have the least and earn the least, they remind me of my sly cousin.

That's what makes it decidedly UNfair, and I've yet to see any proponent give a satisfactory response to that point.

Neither have I. That is one reason that I cannot support this type of proposal straight out. A graduated flat tax may be different - for instance...(figures for illustration only)...
Make less than 20K per year - no taxes at all
make 20to say 40K per year - 5%
make 40 to say 80K per year = 7.5%
Make 80 to say 125K per year = 10%
125 to say 250K per year = 12.5%
250K to 500k per year =15%
Anything over 500k per year =20%

This table is not based on research, but on a SWAG (Scientific Wild Assed Guess) to illustrate my point.

Well, many flat-tax proponents offer the idea of credits for lower income households. Your graduated system looks an awfully like a progressive system we already have on income. If a flat-tax is supposed to make it simpler, both your idea and the credit for lower income households, doesn't achieve that.

I find the flat-tax on spending concept more regressive than the wealth-discount on capital gains. Sipping martinis pool-side is rewarded with lower taxes than the bartender's labor is?

As I said, no real research was used...& yes it does look kind of like the present system, but the flat tax would be applied to the income group (no deductions - no credits - no crap).

Simple yet it will never happen. IMHO, Way too many politicians see the Income Tax as a vehicle to curry favor with big money interests or specialty groups along with social engineering &/or deconstruction.

I don't know what the answers are but right now today we have 2+ wars and a Medicare Part D program to pay for. These account for close to $5 T of the national debt. I think at some point we are going to have to grow up and put on our big boy and big girl pants and raise the revenue to pay off these debts like our parents and grandparents did to pay for WW II and the national highway system and the bridges and the dams and all that other infrastructure that is their legacy to us. The highest federal tax rate through the 50s and 60s was 90%! I think it's ludicrous to imagine we can pay that off without raising taxes. The CBO showed the federal debt goes away by itself in 10 years if the Bush tax cuts expire and that only raises the highest rate back to 39% from 35% - that's only 11% increase. ( Yes, I'll find a link for rikker, but I'm in a rush this morning.)

It seem to be that the House is not in the business this year of building or rebuilding America, they just want to tear everything down. There is a real good reason most of the programs were started. After all, ALL of the programs were ENACTED BY CONGRESS.

FWIW: I did see a progressive argument for a flat corporate tax with NO exemptions as a way to eliminate corporate tax loopholes. However, I think it is impossible to believe that we will ever see an end to corporate tax loopholes and absurd corporate handouts (take a gander at the ridiculous soy subsidies to ADM etc.)
Also, as I understand it, the 90% tax rate in the 50s also had numerous tax writeoffs for charitable causes, socially beneficial investment, etc. The argument now is that these low tax rates for the uber-rich will somehow be funneled back into society at large is laughable given the low job-creation rate during Bush's two terms. The rich basically put a great deal into luxury items...

Personally I love the Fair Tax, simply because other than food and gas I never buy anything new. If anything it would result in a surge of purchases at Thrift Stores and yard sales, resulting in a recycling boom that would have positive effects on the planet. After all isn't that what we want?

IMO

It's incredibly regressive and does not tax great wealth creative by great income or the kinds of purchases the very wealthy will make -- such as homes and other investments. In other words, it's the Koch Brothers' biggest wet dream.

yeah. i was looking for a few links.

I had a few that explained why it's a bad plan in simple, clear language. but that was a long time ago.

The flat tax is not regressive (or progressive). Regressive means that people with lower incomes pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes. Under a flat tax scheme, every bit of income is taxed at the same rate, regardless of how much a person earned, whether the income was "earned," or what they spent the money on. This is the very definition of equitable--everyone pays the same percentage of their income. However, in comparison to the system that we currently have--graduated marginal rates with lots of credits, exemptions, and deductions--lower income people would be worse off under a flat rate because every bit of their income would be taxed, whereas we all get at least a personal exemption under the current system. The $3650 personal exemption from federal income taxes will reduce your taxes by a much higher percentage if you earn $30,000 per year than if you earn $300,000 per year. Also, lower income people would be worse off under a flat tax system if the single tax rate were higher than the lowest marginal rate under the current system.

This site has some good articles

http://www.epi.org/?s=%22flat+tax%22

including http://www.epi.org/page/-/old/Issuebrie ... b_1996.pdf

another interesting article: http://mises.org/rothbard/flattax.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/po ... 032496.htm

thanks so much.

The google-fu is strong here

Yes it is