>>a flat tax is the most regressive tax there is.
>
>No it's not - a flat tax is flat (and if there's a large exemption,
>it can be moderately progressive up to a point). A sales tax is
>regressive because the poorer people are, the larger the share of
>their income they consume. People at the bottom of the distribution
>could end up paying many times the percentage of their income in
>sales taxes as those at the top.
Poor people don't pay tax. Sales taxes are, for example, paid by those who sell things.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas