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> and see it as a scam to reduce taxes on the wealthy and undermine democracy. While the wealthy do pay the majority of taxes - there's a shocking number of ab

> and see it as a scam to reduce taxes on the wealthy and undermine democracy. While the wealthy do pay the majority of taxes - there's a shocking number of absurdly wealthy people with low tax rates (their overall tax bills are still eye watering to a normal pleb). So it's hard to argue for a flat tax without noting that it will lower the average wealthy person's tax bill considerably. At the same time, most people who argue for a flat tax think it will actually increase wealthy people's taxes! Most people are aware that the rich "cheat their taxes". They aren't aware that the vast majority of them are still paying above median tax rates. There's no way around it. The tax bill, currently, is heavily footed by the wealthy. If you go to a "flat tax" it's going to reduce taxes on the wealthy and increase them on the majority.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago
> So it's hard to argue for a flat tax without noting that it will lower the average wealthy person's tax bill considerably. It's also hard because that is basically the only real reason anyone has every argued for it. Lots of ways to 'simplify' taxes that would actually tax the rich without raising tax rates: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/15/raising-money-from-the-rich-doesnt-require-increasing-tax-rates/ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/15/raising-mo...
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  The UK and the US differ dramatically in their use of the tax code to create behavioral and economic incentives. Most of the complexity in the US tax code stems from the government's repeated, endless use of "tax breaks" (credits, deductions and more) to encourage various things, whereas most other governments dispense money to people who participate in whatever is supposed to be encouraged. In theory the effects are similar; in reality, the implications are wildly different.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

> So it's hard to argue for a flat tax without noting that it will lower the average wealthy person's tax bill considerably. It's also hard because that is basically the only real reason anyone has every argued for it. Lots of ways to 'simplify' taxes that would actually tax the rich without raising tax rates: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/15/raising-money-from-the-rich-doesnt-require-increasing-tax-rates/ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/15/raising-mo...

PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
The UK and the US differ dramatically in their use of the tax code to create behavioral and economic incentives. Most of the complexity in the US tax code stems from the government's repeated, endless use of "tax breaks" (credits, deductions and more) to encourage various things, whereas most other governments dispense money to people who participate in whatever is supposed to be encouraged. In theory the effects are similar; in reality, the implications are wildly different.