I have never seen any form of flat tax or "fair" tax proposed that did not have an outlet for people who are genuinely poor.

A lot of people are making fun of Cain, but keep in mind the people currently running things believe that trillion-dollar deficits are not a problem, that $3.6 trillion in spending isn't anywhere near high enough, and that we can fix it all by tacking about $120 billion a year in new taxes on "the rich" (the approximate sum of the Millionaire Tax and removing their Bush tax cuts.)

This isn't "simple." This is insane. You decide what you'd rather have.

A system where half the country - and growing - is getting Federal services and paying no income taxes is a recipe for disaster. Yes, any truly fair system will involve people who are not in poverty paying at least some income taxes. If they're not paying them now, sorry, but this is what happens when you get out of cloud-cuckoo land and have to deal with reality.

What is needed is some kind of radical tax reform. The status quo, "business as usual," is killing us. The details aren't that big a deal at this time.