[Werewolf255]

So, real question, why does the tax code need to be -that- simple? Like, we've got computers and stuff to do the math these days? It sounds like an easy way to say that one is for 'a simple, common sense solution' while papering over the very real harm it's going to do to at-risk and impoverished communities.

To contribute, why should those communities that a flat tax harms be forced to bear that weight of simplification?

It looks like you'd be ignoring the reviewer's second point: that the other factor in societal collapse is when those portions of society that bear undue weight no longer can bear additional burdens.

[jxramos]

I’d say when it’s that simple there’s nothing to argue with and no major brain power demanded, let alone a computer program needed to crunch the numbers and optimize in some highly complicated multidimensional space. There’d be no competing interpretations to battle out between lawyers and CPAs. The only thing that would be argued about is at what tax rate.

I’ve often dreamed about what the tax formula would look like in its full gory details as an unevaluated expression full of variables and piece wise functions and all that.

To the second point I’d say why wait until collapse to trim off unproductive regulatory churn. I guess that’s the fundamental thing—is it a productive pursuit on net and compared to what exactly. It’s hard for me not to imagine the free market filling the void with something more productive even though I can’t single out anything specifically.