Quote Originally Posted by Spetulhu
How, exactly, would a flat tax rate hurt the rich and their tax jockeys? The truly rich get all kinds of opportunities for hiding away their income before moving on to taxation. Flat rate taxation would just make it easier for them if it affected them at all.
Depends on the system you enact.

Rotorgun specificied a flat tax WITHOUT LOOPHOLES.

While this may be politically impossible, the absence of loopholes would address your concerns:

So, no special category for capital gains taxes, no REITs creating an artificial "loss," no exemptions for interest on the mortgage of the primary home, no child esemptions. List gains (income etc.) subtract documented losses (paid out not "paper"), subtract standard personal exemption per adult (set at a level to prevent the truly poor from paying taxes, say 12k or so) = taxable income. Multiply taxable income by tax rate. Submit balance to IRS.

Yes, this means that a two-wage family making a taxable income of 120k per annum would be paying a higher percentage of their overall income in taxes than would a two-wage family making a taxable income of 120M per annum. But the amount of tax paid by the higher income family would still be vastly more.

You could argue that even this is unfair, as the family making 120k ATI is probably receiving the same level of government service as the family making and ATI of 120M -- so who's getting ripped off?