I think that your suggestions are worthwhile and hopefully there will be those in the powers that be who will come up with some kind of plans which incorporates ideas such as yours, parts of Cain, Perry’s and others that will actually end up helping this country yet still be fair to all taxpayers/wager earners (and get more people paying at least something toward taxes).
“...and get more people paying at least something toward taxes.”
I think it needs to be more than that. Like in the debate last night when Bachmann shot herself in the foot. She said (paraphrasing) “Everybody needs to pay some tax so the cost of government matters to them, even if it is only $10, the price of two Happy Meals.” What nonsense. There is no reason at all why even a minimum wage worker shouldn’t pay 10 cents out of every dollar earned. Anything less will not have the effect she is talking about — people caring about the cost and effectiveness of government because they feel that cost personally. The irony is that if everyone’s income was taxed 10%, it would collect more money than the convoluted progressive income tax we have now, and nobody would need to be taxed at 35%.