Anyone know why personal income tax rates are graduated but corporate rates stay flat?

Great question! This difference actually stems from both practical considerations and some policy decisions over time. For individuals, the graduated tax system is designed with the principle that those who earn more have a greater ability to pay, and the marginal utility of money decreases as income rises. It's also meant to address wealth inequality and provide some redistribution. For corporations, the flat tax is partly practical. Corporations have more flexibility in how they structure their income and expenses, making it easier to shift profits around. A flat rate simplifies compliance and makes it harder for corporations to game a bracketed system. Corporate income also ultimately flows to individuals (as dividends, capital gains, etc.) who then pay taxes according to the graduated personal rates. Additionally, there's concern that graduated corporate rates might discourage growth, as companies approaching bracket thresholds might limit expansion to avoid higher rates.

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Quick historical note - the US actually DID have a graduated corporate tax rate system from 1936 until the Tax Reform Act of 1986 changed it to a flat rate. The 1986 change was part of a larger movement to "simplify" the tax code. Some other countries still use graduated corporate rates today - Thailand, the UK, and South Korea have systems where smaller businesses pay lower corporate rates than larger ones.

Has anyone else noticed how some very profitable corporations seem to pay almost no taxes despite this "flat" rate? I read that Amazon paid $0 in federal taxes in 2018 despite billions in profit. How does that work if there's supposedly a flat 21% rate?

The difference also comes down to fundamental tax policy goals. Individual progressive taxation is based on the principle of "ability to pay" - someone making $50k feels the burden of taxes much more than someone making $500k, so we tax higher earners at higher rates. Corporate taxation serves different purposes. It's meant to prevent corporations from being used as tax shelters (where individuals park money in companies to avoid personal taxes) and to capture some revenue from business profits before they're distributed to shareholders. The flat rate reflects that corporations are legal entities, not people with varying needs and abilities to pay. There's also the international competition factor. Countries compete to attract businesses by offering competitive corporate tax rates. A complex graduated system makes it harder for businesses to predict their tax burden and can drive companies to relocate to countries with simpler, more predictable systems. That said, as others mentioned, many small businesses don't even pay corporate taxes because they're structured as pass-through entities, so they get the benefit of graduated rates through the individual tax system anyway.