[Tsuwabuki]

It's not about ratio, it's about ratio of BUYING POWER. 10% of $20,000 is $2000, and total probable cost of apartment, utilities, and transportation, especially in urban areas. Whereas someone making $1M, as long as they live less than completely ostentatiously, that $100,000 makes very little appreciable difference to day by day or month by month needs.

Flat taxes would only work in a parallel universe where people have different prices based on what they earn. Only then would a flat tax actually apply to everyone equally.

As for your views on the Progressive Era, you are flat out wrong. The progressive era capitalists such as Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller were staunchly "make your own fortune" and staunchly anti-hereditary aristocracy- whether landed gentry or by trust fund. Did they pass on large fortunes to offspring? Yes, but they still espoused the idea that any man could rise to the top. Carnegie himself was a the son of a Scottish fabric weaver and was a fierce republican and believed in the power or representative democracy and social mobility. He was also utterly ruthless and cut off competitors at every turn before they could get rich, but he would never begrudge his competitors for trying, and would acknowledge when he had been beaten by his own game.

Yes; the ultrarich have way too many tax havens, including on trust funds and the like. Those should subject to taxation. Which makes me wonder why you're not on our side. Especially since you only make $20K a year which is barely a living wage in many urban and suburban areas. You are not the 1%. Why would you defend their right to have such a multiple of your buying power?