Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), in his quest to win the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, has released a so-called flat tax plan that would institute a 20 percent income tax rate on everyone (minus a few deductions), while completely eliminating all taxes on investment income.

This, of course, would mean a huge tax increase for those Americans who pay less than 20 percent now, and an immense tax cut for those at the top of the income scale. In fact, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, Perry’s plan would cut taxes for millionaires by nearly $500,000 every year. Meanwhile, a family making $10,000-$20,000 would pay $215 more under the plan, while a family making $20,000-$30,000 would pay nearly $500 more.

During an interview yesterday with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register, Perry essentially admitted that this analysis is correct, affirming that a low-income person with no deductions would pay the full 20 percent while someone living entirely off of investments could conceivably pay nothing:

Q: For somebody who has a home and investments and all that, an income level to have all of that, gets those deductions, but a family that doesn’t then still pays 20 percent on their total income? And I’m describing a low-income family.

PERRY: Right. That is correct. [...]

Q: Talk about the difference in where people’s income comes from. The person who works, you know, punches the time clock, they would pay the 20 percent. The person who has the big nest egg from dad or grandpa, whose income derives from capital gains or dividends, would pay nothing?

PERRY: I have a hard time with nothing. I’m sure you could go find an individual or some small number of individuals that meet that characteristic. But again, I don’t think anybody’s going to be able to create a tax system that does not have somewhere an inequity.

Watch it:

When asked if his plan would give millions in tax breaks to the rich, Perry callously replied, “I don’t care about that.” A ThinkProgress analysis found that billionaire investor Warren Buffett could pay as little as 0.2 percent under Perry’s plan. At the same time, Perry not only wants to raise income taxes on lower- and middle-income families, but has come out against extending the expiring payroll tax cut, walloping working families with another $1,000 tax increase next year.

The plan the legislature and Cuomo agreed on would have the rich paying less than they pay now.

It was widely celebrated earlier this week when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) appeared to strike a deal “to raise taxes on the wealthy and slightly reduce them for the middle class.” “The deal reflects the first restructuring of the New York tax code in years and will net an additional $1.9 billion in revenues for the state in 2012,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

But ProPublica’s Marian Wang points out that Cuomo didn’t really agree to raise taxes on the rich. For the past few years, millionaires in New York have been paying a 6.85 percent state income tax rate rate plus a special surtax. The controversy over Cuomo resisting taxing the rich at a higher rate revolves around this special “millionaire’s tax” that had been put in place before he came into office.

Under the agreement between Cuomo and the legislature, high income New Yorkers will no longer be paying the surtax, though their rate will be higher than it would have been if the surtax had simply expired. But at the end of the day, they will be paying less than they were when the surtax was in place — meaning that they are actually getting a tax cut.

In fact, Wang noted that “individuals making between $500,000 and $2 million will pay 2.12 percent less in state income taxes for 2012.” She demonstrated this with the following chart:

So while it is true that the rich will be paying more than they would if the previous “millionaire’s tax” had simply expired, they will also be paying less than if that tax had been extended and less than they paid this year.