What does everyone here think about a Flat Tax?

[John Dibble]

I support a much "flatter" tax, though not an absolute flat tax. Here's the type of system I'd support:

A certain amount of everyone's income would be exempt from tax - let's say the first $25,000. (not necessarily the number that it should be, so don't read into it) All income after that is taxed at a certain rate, let's say 18%. (again, not necessarily the rate it should be, just an example) So if you make $25,001 a year, you pay 18 cents in income taxes.

A few factors could increase your exemption, such as having children or other dependents, disabilities, disasters (house burns down, death of a family member whose funeral you have to pay for, large amounts of out of pocket medical expenses, etc.) - basically things that everyday people have to deal with, not things that give large exemptions to the wealthy.

Things like capital gains wouldn't be included in this system, and would be taxed separately.


I think this kind of system doesn't favor the rich, as the really poor aren't going to be paying anything and the rich will have a greater percentage of their income taxed than most people. It's also a very simple system that would reduce much of the complexities in our tax code.