Let's use a simple example of a flat tax rate of 20% on all income with no deductions. If I earn $1M I pay $200,000 in taxes on that income. If you earn $50,000 you pay $5,000 in taxes on your income. Now let's suppose I live next door to you, have a similar house, have a similar family in terms of household size, and use public amenities such as streets and parks to the same extent that you do. What rationale is there for me to be carrying a tax burden that is forty times your tax burden?
For a true "flat tax" the Federal government would simply take its budget, divide it by the number of people in the country, and send everyone a bill. If it spends $3T and there are 300 million people in this country, then everyone gets a bill for $10,000. Case closed. It's that simple.
“No offense, but your entire post illustrates exactly what is wrong with even many conservatives when it comes to tax policy. This fixation on how much someone paid in taxes as a percentage of their income is large-scale, institutional envy at its root. Even a “flat tax” as it is popularly known today is unjust at its core.
Let’s use a simple example of a flat tax rate of 20% on all income with no deductions. If I earn $1M I pay $200,000 in taxes on that income. If you earn $50,000 you pay $5,000 in taxes on your income. Now let’s suppose I live next door to you, have a similar house, have a similar family in terms of household size, and use public amenities such as streets and parks to the same extent that you do. What rationale is there for me to be carrying a tax burden that is forty times your tax burden?”
I quote you at length because I thought your example was a good one. Why should a million dollar earner pay more in taxes than the guy next door who earns $50,000? Both of you have three kids, and a mortgage (okay, maybe the rich guy doesn’t have a mortgage). Why should the rich guy pay more? I should think it couldn’t be more clear—the neighbor earning $50,000 with three kids is making about enough to get by. Hard for him to pay more than $5,000, Whereas the rich guy has $800,000 left over after he pays $200,000 in taxes. Not exactly tough to get by on that. I think many if not most rich people reccognize this and realize the fairness of higher tax rates on higher incomes.
As far as envy being the root of my beliefs in what is fair, when I was a top 1% earner in the 80’s and 90’s, I paid my 35% or so in taxes each year and was happy to do it. I remembered I was making about four times as much as my employees, and they worked hard for me. I didn’t mind paying more in taxes. I felt very fortunate.