[seanmcdirmid]

> If you want the average person to do well, you should support a flat tax.

Regressive taxation has never not increased wealth gaps. Say you bothered with a flat tax of 9%, which would raise taxes significantly on most Americans. We already have this problem with payroll taxes that are essentially flat, which is why tax relief for the poor has always come in payroll tax decreases rather than income tax decreases.

[settrans]

Payroll taxes are not flat, they are in fact regressive (unlike a flat tax, which is by definition neither progressive nor regressive). Since social security tax is capped, the more you beyond the social security tax limit, the lower your effective payroll tax rate becomes.

[seanmcdirmid]

Not that it really matters in my argument, but while SSI is regressive, medicare is not.