States' 'flat tax' mania: Better for taxpayers or another gift to billionaires?

• More states are enacting the 'flat tax'
• A single-rate income tax means everyone pays at the same rate
• Critics say it lets the rich of the hook -- again

With President Joe Biden proposing to force billionaires to shoulder higher income tax burdens, more states have been employing a handy old idea to head in the opposite direction.

They have embraced the flat tax or flat-rate tax as a single-tier system is known. It is hailed by many GOP governors and legislatures as a way to promote what they perceive as greater fairness for all taxpayers and to attract business to their states.

At the same time, the flat tax hasn’t lost any of its controversy. The system still prompts an outcry from critics who deride it as a regressive scheme that flies in the face of trying to narrow the income gap.