Flat Tax

The idea of a “Flat Tax,” a single-rate tax to replace the existing progressive personal income tax, corporate income tax and estate tax, was first proposed in a 1983 book by Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka.

The Flat Tax authors wrote that it “will be a tremendous boon to the economic elite”1 and also admitted that “it is an obvious mathematical law that lower taxes on the successful will have to be made up by higher taxes on average people.”

In February of 2010, ITEP estimated the impacts of the Flat Tax legislation introduced by then-Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The estimates, which were cited by Citizens for Tax Justice, 3 confirmed what Hall and Rabushka said about the plan, which would result in:

Impact of Arlen Specter's Proposed "Flat Tax"
Income Average--Average taxes and Group Income Tax Change
Lowest 20% $ 12,400  increases $1,485
Second 20% $24,900 increases $2,299
Middle 20% $40,100 increases $2,678
Fourth 20% $65,500 increases $3,576
Next 10% $99,600 increases $5,182
Next 5% $140,100 increases $4,323
Next 4% $243,900 decreases $5,834
Top 1% $1,327,700 decreases $209,562
Bottom 95% $ 48,000 increases 2,887

So, for the upper middle class, taxes rise by $3576.
The upper 5%, at $140,100 to $243000, taxes rise by $4300.

Those above $243000, save about $6000 
and those in the top 1% save $210,000.

http://www.ctj.org/pdf/perryflattaxfairtax.pdf