Flat tax in the real world

Here's a link to the Register's editorial today on the "flat tax" (Thompson has proposed an unflat version) focusing on how well it has worked in the mostly post-Soviet countries where it has been tried. The idea had a good deal of currency among conservatives and free marketeers in the 1990s, but hasn't been considered seriously recently. Meanwhile countries like Russia and Estonia have run with it, with excellent results. Of course the ideal tax rate is zero, but a fairer and less complex tax systm in this country would be a blessing.