economics, government

Are Income Taxes Doubly-Progressive?

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I asked a couple years ago, Who Pays Taxes? Are They Doubly-Progressive?

Further …

On Paying Our “Fair Share” : The Freeman: Any set of progressive tax rates is arbitrary. If the set 10%, 20%, and 30% is unfair, would the set 20%, 30%, 50%, and 90% be fair? How could anyone ever know? It’s all a matter of opinion—or a matter of politics. It’s therefore difficult to see how any progressive tax can be justified at all. There is certainly no scientific rationale for such a tax. Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama to the contrary notwithstanding, a progressive income tax is unfair precisely because it is deeply and unavoidably arbitrary. Applying the same percentage tax rate to all taxpayers, in order to raise a given amount of tax revenue, is indeed also an arbitrary rule. But it is a whole lot less arbitrary than imposing any one of an infinite set of progressive tax rates that could raise that same tax revenue.

Related links:
Who Pays Taxes? Is It Fair?

  • jonnygalt

    The only entity that treats people differently based on the amount of their income is the government. Buying a car? It’s the same price no matter what your income is. Going out to a restaurant to eat? They charge everyone the same price. Amazon doesn’t ask for your W2 before deciding how much to charge you for an item.

    I’m mostly in favor of a real flat tax…a flat amount per person. At this point though I’d settle for a flat rate.