Question: Can anyone give me a reasonable argument for having a progressive tax?
One starts with the assumption that it is unfair to tax the money needed for food, shelter, clothing transportation and health care.
With that assumption, a country should have at least a two tier tax rate. The first tier would be zero percent. The second tier would be the rate needed to extort enough money to buy votes to win the next election.
But it gets more complicated because government wants to encourage you do what they want. Government kind of wants to be able to force you to do things by giving you a tax break. But to give you a tax break, they have to give you another tier so that they can reduce your taxes.
But it gets even more complicated because of social security. Social Security is a reverse progressive tax that taxes the middle class at a higher rate than the rich. That’s not good. So they design the tax system to tax at a flat rate when social security is included (social security deductions are really taxes).
So to make a long story short, you have a flat tax but don’t think you do so you bend over to get the tax breaks. And that is why you need a progressive tax in the USA!
[The Utopian States doesn’t do it that way!]