Recent news that former President Trump paid a pittance in federal income taxes over the past decade shocked no one. America’s tax laws are, to borrow a phrase, cobwebs for the rich and chains for the poor. The inequality is not limited to individuals; 55 of America’s biggest companies paid no income taxes in 2020. To share our shared burdens more equitably, we offer this modest proposal: America should adopt an exemption and deduction free, progressive flat tax for individuals, and a vigorously-enforced flat tax for corporations on all income with minimum contacts to America.

Taxes, as Oliver Wendell Holmes noted, are the price we pay for living in a civil society. Holmes was not complaining; he considered taxes money well spent. That taxes are a smart investment in our country marked the most patriotic of decades: In 1950’s, the top marginal tax rate—on all income over $200,000—was 91 percent; someone who earned $1 million would have paid over $800,000 in income taxes. Seven decades later, we are far from Holmes and much nearer to the Duke of Rutland, who had a stroke in 1909 when Britain’s Liberal government raised the top tax rate to 11 percent.