40 % of this country pay little federal tax

[Ollie]

I have a decent job with good income but all said and done I paid about 2% in federal income tax last year. SS and other taxes is another story

I paid almost 10% of my income for my property taxes on the house.

To the flat tax idea I generally support the concept (even though I would likely pay more) but it needs to be regionally adjusted for a standardized cost of living and 0% (or something very small) below that level and then flat above that. What that does is allows everyone to have a chance to take care of themselves to some base level first then contribute to the good of the society. For example the first 30K is tax free (or very low % so that everyone pays something) then every penny after that is taxed the same.

If you start a tiering system, it will be exploited.
That is how we got where we are now.
If you try to adjust for cost of living it does the same exact thing as tiering it would.
if you just have a simple flat tax it would standardize the standard of living. If you can get more for you buck in kansas than California, then people will move to Kansas and the costs will go up. In the end, you have standardized standards.

As for Ruffy and I getting along better, he has come around to my way of thinking, it only took 4 frogs and 3 hits to do it.