In your Jan. 26 “Other Voices,” spot, an editorial from an unidentified newspaper stated, “The benefits (of the flat tax) for the average American would be significant.”

In actual fact, under our progressive federal income tax structure, the 5 percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes pay about 20 percent of total income taxes, even with their use of loopholes. Under a flat tax, a taxpayer with $40,000 income pays the same rate on taxable income as one with $1 million income. Any flat tax law will reduce the share collected from those with high incomes and take a larger share from those with middle incomes.

The proposed 17 percent flat tax rate may look like a reduction in federal taxes for most people, but, according to an unrelated news story, total income tax collections under a 17 percent flat tax would fall short of the amount collected under present law. Thus some of the Republican politicians advocating the flat tax propose to make up the shortfall by passing a law to assess a federal value-added tax on all purchases, their “consumption tax.” Passage of these two laws would greatly increase federal taxes paid by middle-income and low-income people.

Besides, isn’t there a danger that reducing consumption of goods significantly could push our economy into a recession? Anne Hogben Trenton