Originally Posted by EvilGN

looks like there is a 4th topic that should never be argued....religion, sports, politics, and now taxes.....but what the hey

a flat tax may fix most of the fiscal monetary issues for the govt, but IMO its still unfair. the family of 4 making 30k a year probably lives in a home that is 90-100k (using the 3x yearly income rule). So that would allow the dude making 1M a year to live in a 3M house. The dude making 30k pays 3k, so that reduces his mortgage to 80-90k give or take, and millionaire is forced to live in a $2.7M house. Not to mention the yearly requirement to LIVE ie food, healthcare, education etc, its harder for the 30k guy to make ends meet. The millionaire will never go without healthcare, education, milk, booze :P etc. So with a flat income tax, should we make the millionaire pay a proportionately higher amount of money for food? Even if he eats at the most expensive eatery in NYC everyday, he is still doing better than the lower income family.

Funny thing is, I am the furthest person I know from calling my self a bleeding heart liberal, I firmly believe in survival of the fittest when it comes to capitalism. But as an ECON major (who remembers little from college) I have never seen a reason for not having a progressive income tax, while at the same time, flat taxes exists, and even regressive ones. Its the balance between all of them that would make things FAIR. But in our current system which NEEDS to be changed, that rich man still finds ways (thru spending money) to keep from paying his FAIR share