(August 24, 2011 at 2:22 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote: In reality, no other part of our society operates that way. Those that own are the ones who pay to maintain.Not over there maybe, but here in England we have VAT (Value Added Tax) on most purchasable items.
The tax is 20% of the item's sale value. So if something costs £1, the VAT would be 20p. The tax rate doesn't change if you are rich or poor, and isn't dependent on the amount of stuff you buy; it's always 20%.
There are quite a few different flat tax schemes; a lot of them involving a certain cut off point (i.e. incomes that are too low to be taxable). One interesting variation is "Negative income tax", which allows families living in the poorest circumstances to get money back from the government if their income is less than the amount of their deductions.
Read more here: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Flat_tax
