The Flat Tax Is the Answer to All Our Problems, Right?

During the past thirty years, the tax on the wealthiest Americans, the top 1 percent, has steadily been reduced. Wealth, Ronny Rayguns promised us, would trickle down.

The truth is that over the past thirty years is that the top 1 percent has seen their wealth double, while the rest of us are still earning the same amount of money. (Thus the key to American productivity: The rich earn more while the workers work harder and earn less.)

(See The New York Times' "Top Earners Doubled share of Nation's Income, Study Finds" explaining the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office.)

And, oh, yes, the flat tax—all the flat tax proposals would result in the richest Americans receiving another tax cut. But that's only fair; they're creating all the wealth, right?