The Bush Defense

[Max B. Sawicky]

The problem with "progressive" is that there's no single
metric for it.  It means share of income paid in taxes
increases as income increases, but the 'amount' of
progressivity can be defined and measured in different
ways.

For instance, under the Bush plan, more people fall under
the zero bracket (the level below which no positive income
taxes are owed).  In and of itself, this is progressive.
OTOH, the amount of the tax cut is higher in percentage
terms as income increases.

For some tax reforms, it is possible for different
measures of progressivity to yield different verdicts
on whether the reform results in a tax system that is
more or less progressive.

mbs

On Sat, 11 Jan 2003, Jordan Hayes wrote:


> The "Income Tax" is pretty progressive at this point (and getting
> moreso)