Flat Tax, Flat Wrong

Hola, Hippies of the world! Arise! We have nothing to lose but our love-beads...No, seriously: My name is John Konopak, a citizen-journalist in Albuquerque, NM, and I'm climbing the SoapBox to rant about TAXES!

There are all kinds of simple minds out there, and the STOOPIT is very strong among them. One of the most obdurately stupid cults in the religion of simple solutions are the "flat taxers." "The tax code is corrupt, and too complex, and favors the wrong people, and we should just charge everybody the same tax-rate, on everything, and cancel all exemptions, and deductions and just cut the crap. (THAT such 'flat taxer' folks often have jutting, prognathous jaws and ridged eye-brows? That's just a coincidence, I'm sure). Here's my reply to one such, today, on another thread, on which I declared that a flat tax is inevitably unjust, unfair, and inequitable. I said:

Try something novel, sir: THINK. It's an important word. It has more than 100 cognates; more than the Inuits have for "snow."  

Compare--a thinking activity--the condition of a worker taking home the Median income--around $50k/YR--with someone in the Top10%: $500k/yr.

Take 15 or 17 or 20 pewrcent of each and see what's LEFT? Clearly, the same tax has radically DIFFERENT effects on the amount of income the individuals have on which to live after their taxes are paid, nest paw? 

 Now take it DOWN a notch, where the impact is even MORE severe: Compare the lived, actual effects of a 15% tax on someone making $25K/yr--$3750-- with the person making $250K/yr, or $37500. I'm pretty sher you can figger it out the inequities for yourself.

Now, yer ol' pal, Dr. Woody has been accused of being all about critical, and being all nothing--or at least a lot lot less--about suggestions to fix things. I'll admit, I don't think things, as they are arranged now, are susceptible to BEING "fixed." But if they were, and a new system were to be imagined, I think I could live with something that looked like this. Along with the so-called "RobinHood" tax on all transactions of financial instruments and derivatives, you would:

Exclude the first $30k of anyone's income from income taxes of any kind, including States' taxes Then institute a sliding, progressive rate, based on the gross value of all received income, regardless of the source:

I.e.--5% from $30-$50001. 

9% FOR $50001-75000;

13% FOR $75001-100000.

17% FROM $100001-150000;

20% FROM $1500001-200000,

25% from 200001-300000,

30% from 300001-500000;

40% from $500001-One MILLION

ETC; maxing out at (post WW II levels): 90% over, say $5 Million

The levels would adjust with inflationary/deflationary pressures.

So, hippies! Now you can never again claim I offer no ideas to supplant those I criticize. If yoiu have objections,. raise 'em and I'll try to answer 'em, either here or at the beach.