Jerry Brown’s Flat-Tax Plan

Obviously Robert Kuttner is not a big fan of Jerry Brown, but that doesn’t oblige him to substitute rhetoric for arithmetic. I am a musician and make less than $15,000 per year; I pay 15% of my earnings in taxes. A close family member makes about $35,000 a year; she pays 28%. Yet another family member makes more than $100,000 a year and pays almost nothing because he can afford to shelter his earning. A flat 13% income tax would lower the taxes for myself and my struggling cousin, while forcing my rich cousin to finally pay something. I can’t seem to translate that into a tax decrease for the rich and an increase for the middle class.

It’s no joke: The middle class is burdened with supporting this country. And it’s just not fair to require a few people to fork over a third of their income to support everyone else. A flat income tax would solve a lot of problems, and Kuttner’s dislike of Jerry Brown does not entitle him to spout a baseless criticism of a very good idea.

GREG DEMPSTER

San Juan Capistrano