What would happen if the federal governement instituted a flat tax rate at 15% for everyone?

Biggest problem is that the govt would have about half of the money they do now, so services would have to be cut drastically, including "entitlement" programs

As long as it did this REPLACING all the other taxes....

1. Tax revenues would dramatically increase. The government always projects a 100% collection rate. This is completely false. Many people avoid taxes. And many of them get away with it. Others hire attorneys and accountants to find the best loopholes they can. A simplification of this system would encourage most citizens to simply pay their taxes and not worry about the best way to dodge Uncle Sam.

2. The IRS would be reduced dramatically in size. A 15% flat tax rate would allow the IRS to completely compute your taxes with only your salary information. Simply, consistent, and very automatable. The entire audit wing could be eliminated. Processes could be streamlined, saving the government billions of dollars. This would also increase the amount of tax revenue, as the cost of collection dropped significantly.

3. Government would be held accountable to greater transparency. Currently, the top 5% of the population pays for over 60% of the taxes in this country. If EVERYONE had a tax rate (even if it was extremely small in relative size), EVERYONE would want to know where their money is going and what benefits the public was recieving.

Right now, most poor people couldn't care less so long as social services continue. This allows flagerant porkbarreling and governmental fraud.

I would check out http://www.ncpa.org/pi/taxes/tax7.html

and http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1866.cfm

They're both Right and Left wing sites that endorse the flat tax concept and describe it's benefits in greater detail.

Good Luck!

Pros: everyone pays the same percentage, and the tax system rewards going out and succeeding.

some people would see the cons at the government would receive less revenue, but I think this is also a good thing because governments are TOO BIG and powerful with all the money they want right now.

The government would collect half of what it needs to operate.