Let's run the numbers.

Reader comment on: Cut Spending on the Rich
in response to reader comment: Fairness not equality

Submitted by benjamin (United States), May 12, 2011 13:00

I am not convinced that under a flat tax the rich would pay more. The sales tax is highly regressive, as poor people spend a much larger percentage of their income. The same holds for payroll taxes. I suppose it would be true for those without any income, but my guess is that the working poor well up into the middle class would pay a higher tax rate when all taxes are taken together than the rich under a flat tax. Of course, in absolute dollars there is no argument, the rich would pay more.

Surely there is a paper somewhere that looked at this question.

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