Quotes from Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka,

Low Tax, Simple Tax, Flat Tax (1983).

Hall and Rabushka were the authors of the original 19% version of the Armey flat tax plan. Hall and Rabushka's plan was supposed to be revenue neutral, and therefore had lower exemptions from the wage part of the tax:

Hall and Rabushka's Estimates of Tax Changes By Income Group Under Their Armey-Style Flat Tax at 1995 Income Levels

Income
Level
Tax ChangeTax Change as
a % of Income
$11,974$+406 +3.4%
$19,437+1,021+5.3%
$24,497+1,240+5.1%
$29,684+1,409+4.7%
$37,116+1,703+4.6%
$44,728+1,937+4.3%
$58,242+2,228+3.8%
$70,542+2,354+3.3%
$93,051+1,863+2.0%
$123,700-318-0.3%
$186,856-5,813-3.1%
$284,398-20,023-7.0%
$530,292-44,431-8.4%
$1,455,349-151,595-10.4%
$3,773,916-499,886-13.2%
Source: Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka, Low Tax, Simple Tax, Flat Tax (1983), p. 125. Dollar figures were adjusted (by Citizens for Tax Justice) to 1995 levels by the change in the consumer price index.

NOTE THAT THE PERCENTAGES IN THIS TABLE ARE PERCENTAGES OF INCOME, NOT PERCENT CHANGE IN TAX. Thus, a 4% increase for a family with income of $50,000 is equal to 0.04 * 50,000 or $2,000--not 4% multiplied by the current tax liability (a much smaller number).


The Hall-Rabushka plan is a disguised consumption tax:

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing back in 1982, Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) asked Hall: "So you are advocating a consumption tax?" To which, Hall responded: "That's right, but we are careful not to label it as a consumption tax."


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