I'm a little puzzled that you two seem to be wrestling with the definitions of the two types of tax strategy. That's been settled for a long time.
Tom's talking about a regressive tax rate, "where the relative tax rate or burden increases as an individual's ability to pay it decreases" (by wikipedia, of course). That's the mathematical consequence of a flat tax rate, and by no stretch of the imagination could that be called progresive just because the dollar amount goes up.
In my personal opinion, Rob's closer to the mark by bringing up fairness (sorry, I won't put it in quotes...words have meaning is the theme of this post). A progressive tax strategy tries to equalize the burden, though in practice political maneuvering by the representives of the wealthy reduces the slope of the progression so that wealthier taxpayers end up with a lighter burden...which seems to be the American way these days. Wikipedia's definition: "Progressive taxes attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with a lower ability-to-pay, as they shift the incidence increasingly to those with a higher ability-to-pay."
OK, now you have the terms straight. Carry on, gentlemen.
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define:progressive tax rate, define:regressive tax rate
The whole thread (35 posts)
- So Romney's paying...
- Romney paid over $6 million in Federal taxes in the past two years.
- Re: Romney paid over $6 million in Federal taxes in the past two years.
- Just for fun
- Be careful of the terminology. (EDITED FOR CORRECTION)
- One more time if you don’t mind
- define:progressive tax rate, define:regressive tax rate
- What?
- Re: define:progressive tax rate, define:regressive tax rate
- You do love that red herring, don't you?
- About the definitions, you were right and I was wrong.
- And I spoke too soon
- Re: And I spoke too soon
- Yeah, those look like "my" numbers.
- The problem with defending markets here is that too many people can't think outside the "managed economy" box.
- Yeah, those look like "my" numbers.
- Re: And I spoke too soon
- And I spoke too soon
- About the definitions, you were right and I was wrong.
- You do love that red herring, don't you?
- I don't mind wealthy people paying more taxes than people who aren't. I never did.
- define:progressive tax rate, define:regressive tax rate
- One more time if you don’t mind
- Be careful of the terminology. (EDITED FOR CORRECTION)
- Tax rates of presidential candidates
- Romney paid over $6 million in Federal taxes in the past two years.