Al, That was a great link with the socio-economic map. I recommend that to everyone. I agree that wealth is relative to how most people vote. The few "affluent" communties here is the Northeast that do vote Republican do so because they wouldn't consider themselves affluent. The cost of living in the Northeast is so high that people making good money are just middle class. For instance, the starting salary for a NYC school teacher is $39,000. It would look like a great salary in say Montana but it is hard to live on in New York with houses averaging close to half a million dollars.
This comment gets to the core of the problem with a national income tax, and how it affects perceptions of the parties. Since costs of living vary so much, income for the same profession tends to vary as well. When the two are combined the type of people that fall into a particular tax bracket in a rural Midwest county may be quite different than those who fall in the same bracket in an urban center in the Northeast.
The national graduated tax structure cannot take into account the regional differences. Until the types of expense are identified, the current tax structure will fail to differentiate between these groups. As such, the perception of which way to correct the tax system, will have a regional, and not purely economic basis.
