[PilotMan]

I finished my income taxes today and I wanted to take a look at what my actual tax burden was for this year versus some of the flat tax proposals that I could find. I make a good income, but also support 5 people with that income as the Mrs. doesn't work. My income is good enough for me to be considered the 4th quintile (between the top 20-40%.). Middle class, or trending toward upper middle.

One of the big features of these plans is pretty much getting rid of every deduction and loophole, so I'll assume that all the income is based on my adjusted gross with no other modifications.

Cruz - no tax on first 36000, then 10%.

My tax burden under this plan actually goes down by $216. (-2.8%)

Paul - no tax on first 50000, then 15%.

My tax burden increases by $1336. (+17.8%)

Carson - no tax on the first 36375, then 14.9%.

My tax burden increases by $3307. (+44%)

Santorum - A flat 20% tax rate with a $2500 per person tax credit. We file married/joint, so that's $5000 for us.

My tax burden increases by $9287. (+124%)

I can't find any other flat tax proposals and the other GOP tax proposals are either not significantly different from what we have now, or not detailed enough to calculate what my burden would be. If anyone finds any other proposals I'd be happy to do the math.

I have no idea how they sell everyone that these proposals will benefit the middle class. I'm all for paying more taxes if there's a good reason, but I'm not sure that this is the right option.