My point is not at all that I support higher taxes for the wealthy (I'm actually quite libertarian on taxes) - my point is that flat taxes don't work because th

My point is not at all that I support higher taxes for the wealthy (I'm actually quite libertarian on taxes) - my point is that flat taxes don't work because there is a minimum non-discretionary spending every person has regardless of income. If you have a flat tax as the OP proposes (in fact declares as the only "ethical" way) then some people get hammered more than others simply based on the fact that we all must eat and we all much live somewhere. The right solution to lowering taxes is cutting spending to match. But even if you did that and all we had were programs libertarians agreed on - you will still have progressive taxes. Even if the top bracket was 15% - the bottom bracket should be lower to be fair. To say that progressive taxes are unethical is to not understand what those at the bottom are fighting to get ahead.