Whether or not the United States government should adopt a flat tax system in place of its current progressive tax system has been a hotly debated topic for decades. A flat tax is a tax system which refers to a tax on household income that is the same amount for each household- regardless of income level. The United States currently implements a progressive tax system, meaning that high-income earners pay taxes at a higher rate than low-income earners. The two systems differ greatly in their objectives and methods of execution and typically cause a good deal of unrest amongst lawmakers and citizens alike.
A flat tax system, also known as a proportional tax system, implements the same percentage rate of taxation on everyone, regardless of income. It has been proposed multiple times in the past couple of decades for a flat-rate tax system to be put into action to replace the current progressive system. In a cartoon from the Denver Post, Mike Keefe illustrates Governor Rick Perry’s constant flat tax proposals that have gained the reputation as being pushy and harmful to the working and middle classes (Keefe). Keefe does this by showing a man perceived as Rick Perry carrying a huge glorified baseball bat while walking away from two other small weak men who represent the working and middle class, who have just been forcibly convinced that flat taxes are “beautiful in its simplicity” (Keefe). One of the cherished characteristics of this type of tax system is that it does not discriminate based on income. The Gale encyclopedia acknowledges that originally “the Founding Fathers were opposed to any politics based on income differences because they feared it would lead to class distinctions in the law” (“Flat Tax Provision”). This shared v...
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Keefe, Mike. “Perry’s Flat Tax.” Cartoon. The Denver Post. (26 October 2011). Web. 13 March 2014.
McEwan, Arthur. "What's Wrong With A Flat Tax?" Dollars & Sense 302 (2012): 31. Business Source Complete. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
"Progressive Tax." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale, 1999. N. pag. Student Resources in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"Proportional Tax." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale, 1999. N. pag. Student Resources in Context. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Rao, Manita, and Christian E. Weller. "Progressive Tax Policy and Economic Stability." Journal of Economic Issues 44.3 (2010): 629. Student Resources in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
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3. Beard, Charles A. "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States". American Politics. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA. 1999. (Pages 27 -- 33).
Thesis The Progressive Era and the New Deal Era had a significant amount of similarities with policies and programs to reform the American society and improve lives and fight poverty in America. Although the Progressive and New Deal Era had many similarities, there were still differences between them. Both the Progressive and the New Deal Era’s main goal was to improve American society. Both of the Progressive and New Deal’s accomplishments were rooted in the economic depression and the need for change before the era, the Guilded age in the 19th century for the Progressive era, and the Great Depression for the New Deal era. As the Guilded Age was ending, and the Progressive Era was emerging, most American families had to live with the harsh reality of sweatshops, slums, child labor, corruption in government and businesses, disease, and racial prejudice.
Hoffman, et al. South-Western federal taxation: comprehensive volume. 2014 ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2014.
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...nary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 6. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 135. Student Resources in Context. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Hoffman, Kathy Barks. "Rick Snyder presents $45 billion budget; cuts to education, personal tax exemptions." Oakland Press, February 17, 2011: 1-3.
Reid, John Phillip. Constitutional History of the American Revolution / the Authority to Tax. Madison, WI: Univ. of Wisconsin, 1987. 33. Print.
Wheelan, C. (2011). Introduction to Public Policy (1st ed.). United States: W.W. Nortion & Company, INC. (Original work published 2011).
2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 166-173. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
DiBacco, Thomas V., Lorna C. Mason, and Christian G. Appy. History of The United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.
The current tax system that the United States uses contains several flaws. First of all, it is very complex. It is comprised of many various variables that can create loopholes. These loopholes can cause two equal income families to be paying very different tax rates. In fact, there are 480 different types of tax forms (Website). The current tax system is also very unfair for the wealthy. Because it is a progressive tax, it is higher for people who have higher incomes. People should not be punished for being successful. If a flat tax policy were instituted, then it would simplify the complicated tax system, create fairness within the economy, and promote a desire to thrive financially.
Tom Quirk and Gary Scharnhorst. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 380-386. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Niles North High School. 3 Mar. 2008.