One Rate. No Loopholes. Done.

The federal tax code is over 4 million words long. Americans spend more than 6.5 billion hours per year on tax compliance. The total cost of that compliance exceeds $400 billion annually — money that produces nothing, employs no one productively, and exists solely to navigate a system designed to be navigated by those who can afford to hire navigators.

The system has seven tax brackets, three capital gains rates, an Alternative Minimum Tax, dozens of deductions, hundreds of credits, and thousands of rules that change depending on who you are, what you earn, and how good your accountant is. The stated top rate is 37%. The average American actually pays about 10% of true gross income. The wealthiest Americans, with the best tax attorneys, often pay less than that. The complexity is the inequality.

Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. A full-time worker at that rate earns $15,080 a year. The current tax code tries to compensate for poverty wages with exemptions and credits — patches on a broken system. The Mesocratic Party believes you don't fix low wages with tax breaks. You fix low wages.

Republicans are right that lower tax rates stimulate economic growth, attract investment, and allow Americans to keep more of what they earn. They’re right that the tax code is too complex and that it punishes productivity.

Democrats are right that the wealthy exploit loopholes to pay lower effective rates than working families. They’re right that deductions for mortgage interest, state taxes, and charitable giving disproportionately benefit the rich. They’re right that the system isn’t fair.

We agree with both. And we have a number.

The Mesocratic Party proposes a flat federal tax rate of 15% on all individual income — earned income and capital gains alike. One rate. One rule. Applied equally to every American, on every dollar earned.

How we got to 15%

We didn't invent a number. We looked at six years of IRS data (2017–2022) and asked one question: what does the federal government actually collect from individual income taxes, as a percentage of reported income?

The answer: approximately 10% of true gross income.

The commonly cited figure is 14%, but that's calculated on Adjusted Gross Income — a reduced number that reflects income after adjustments, exclusions, and deductions have already reduced it. The 15% Plan eliminates every deduction, exemption, and loophole. Every dollar earned by every American enters the tax base. When you apply 15% to that expanded base, the plan generates approximately $2.89 trillion in net annual revenue — over $760 billion more than the government collects today. We looked at what the country already collects, made it honest, and added five points of runway. The math did the talking.

The $25/hour federal minimum wage

The 15% Plan does not include a personal exemption or standard deduction. There is no tax-free threshold. Instead, the plan establishes a federal minimum wage of $25.00 per hour, indexed annually to inflation. At 40 hours a week, that's $52,000 a year.

We don't exempt poverty wages from taxation. We eliminate poverty wages.

A minimum-wage worker pays $7,800 in federal income tax and takes home $44,200 — $3,683 per month. That's a real wage. Not a tax trick.

The American Family Growth Credit

For families raising children where both parents are U.S. citizens:

Three or more children under 18: The first $500,000 of household income is tax-free. Only income above $500,000 is taxed at 15%. No phase-outs. No income limits.

One or two children under 18: A $50,000 per-child deduction against taxable income. A family with two kids earning $100,000 pays zero federal income tax.

Over 25 million American families — 77% of all families with children — benefit from these credits. A minimum-wage worker with one child pays no more than $300 in federal tax. With two children: $0.

This is the most aggressive pro-family tax policy in the developed world.

Corporate codetermination: the counterweight, accountability at the board level

We hold politicians accountable with term limits, pay reform, and stock trading bans. We should hold corporations to the same standard.

The Mesocratic Party supports mandatory worker representation on corporate boards for companies above defined size thresholds. Companies with 500 or more employees or $100 million or more in annual revenue must reserve one-third of board seats for elected worker representatives. Companies with 2,000 or more employees or $1 billion or more in annual revenue must reserve half.

Either threshold triggers the requirement. This closes the contractor loophole — companies can't avoid codetermination by reclassifying employees as independent contractors if their revenue exceeds the threshold.

This is modeled on Germany's Mitbestimmung system, which has been in continuous operation since 1976. Germany's largest companies — Volkswagen, Siemens, SAP — operate under codetermination. They are globally competitive. They pay higher wages. They retain workers longer. Codetermination doesn't destroy capitalism. It makes it accountable.

Workers create the value. They deserve a seat at the table where decisions about that value are made.

What this eliminates

• All seven individual income tax brackets
• All itemized deductions (SALT, mortgage interest, charitable, medical)
• The standard deduction and personal exemption
• The Alternative Minimum Tax
• Preferential capital gains rates (0%, 15%, 20%)
• The carried interest loophole
• The Net Investment Income Tax (3.8% surtax)
• The Qualified Business Income deduction
• The Child Tax Credit (replaced by the American Family Growth Credit)

What this preserves

• The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• Tax-deferred retirement accounts (401(k), IRA) — contributions remain pre-tax; distributions taxed at 15%
• Employer-provided health insurance exclusion

Capital gains: one rate for all income

Under the current system, investment income is taxed at lower rates than work income. A hedge fund manager can pay a lower effective rate than a nurse. The carried interest loophole lets private equity firms reclassify ordinary income as capital gains to cut their tax bill. The 15% Plan ends this. Income is income. A dollar earned from a paycheck and a dollar earned from a stock sale are the same dollar. Both are taxed at 15%. The loophole doesn't need to be closed — it ceases to exist.

The 15% Plan is not one policy. It's three, and they reinforce each other.

A flat 15% tax with no deductions is the simplest tax code in the developed world — but without a minimum wage floor, it taxes people who can't afford to be taxed. The $25/hour minimum wage solves that — but without a check on corporate pricing power, companies pass the cost to consumers. Corporate codetermination solves that — workers on boards prevent reflexive price hikes and force companies to absorb costs through thinner margins and more modest executive compensation, not higher prices.

The American Family Growth Credit ensures that families building the next generation of Americans aren't penalized by a system with no deductions. Three or more kids? You pay nothing on the first half million. One or two kids? $50,000 off per child.

Take away any one piece and the others are weaker. Together, they form the most coherent economic framework any American party has proposed: pay people fairly, tax them simply, support their families, and hold corporations accountable.

If you're a minimum-wage worker with no kids: you earn $52,000 a year and pay $7,800 in federal tax. Your take-home is $44,200 — nearly triple what the current minimum wage pays.

If you're a minimum-wage worker with one child: you pay no more than $300 a year in federal tax. With two kids: $0.

If you're a family with three or more children earning $200,000: you pay zero federal income tax. The $500,000 family exemption covers you entirely.

If you're a middle-class household earning $100,000 with two children: you pay $0. The $100,000 in per-child deductions zeros out your tax bill.

If you're wealthy: you pay 15% on every dollar, with no loopholes, no deductions, and no games. That's likely less than your current statutory rate — but more than what many high earners actually pay after their accountants are done.

If you're a taxpayer who's sick of a rigged system: it's unrigged. One rate. One page. Every dollar treated the same.