flat tax

     The idea of a "flat" income tax is becoming news again. We now have what is considered a "progressive" income tax--the more money a person makes, the more he or she pays in taxes, not just because a certain percentage is being taxed ( say ten percent, or ten cents of every dollar earned), but because higher incomes are taxed at a higher rate. People with little money may pay five cents on each dollar earned, while people who make more money may be taxed fifteen cents on each dollar earned. The numbers are not accurate, as there are a lot of variations, but the idea is the same.
     Under a "flat" tax system everyone would pay the same percentage--the same ten cents, or the same rate, on every dollar earned. Many people think this would be more fair than taxing wealthy people at a higher rate. Many other people think that a "flat" tax would actually be "regressive"--that poorer people would be unfairly paying a larger portion of their income in taxes. The poorer people might actually be taxed on money they need for the rent or mortgage, while people with more money would be taxed on excess income. It might become a very unfair system. A "flat" tax law might be written with an exclusion for the income anyone actually needs to survive--but the exclusion or exemption would have to be high. With an exclusion set at at the first $20,000 or even $30,000 of income, a large group of people would be paying no taxes at all, and the wealthier would be making up the difference.
     A "progressive" tax system--like the one we now have--includes more people as a tax base, and avoids the danger that too many people might "drop out" of America's civic life because they do not have the personal political stake of watching politicians argue over how to spend the money they earned, and then paid in taxes.