Would you agree to abolishing the IRS and going with a flat tax?

[Swede Atlanta]

35. It depends on what you mean by "flat tax"

If you mean everyone, except for low wage earners, would pay the same % with few if any exemptions, etc. the answer is No, No and Hell No.

If you mean that all individuals earning at a certain level would pay the same % with few or no exemptions you might have something there.

But anything other than graduated rates is highly regressive. Why should someone earning say $50K a year pay the same % of their earned income as someone who makes say $3M?

One thing I would like to see is a graduated tax rate on capital gains, the more you earn in capital gains the higher the tax rate. It is one thing to tax someone who earns a little on a 401K, Roth, IRA, etc. @ 15% but if investment returns represent 75% of someone's income then that should be taxed at a higher rate.

Why should we tax doing nothing (sitting back and letting the money roll in) at a lower rate than working? It has never made sense to me but I understand investment bankers have put their fingerprints on the tax code. Not to mention hedge fund managers.