progressive taxation

A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term ''progressive'' refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the person's marginal tax rate. The term can be applied to individual taxes or to a tax system as a whole. Progressive taxes are imposed in an attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with a lower ability to pay, as such taxes shift the incidence increasingly to those with a higher ability-to-pay. The opposite of a progressive tax is a regressive tax, such as a sales tax, where the poor pay a larger proportion of their income compared to the rich (for example, spending on groceries and food staples varies little against income, so poor pay similar to rich even while latter has much higher income).

The term is frequently applied in reference to personal income taxes, in which people with lower income pay a lower percentage of that income in tax than do those with higher income. It can also apply to adjustments of the tax base by using tax exemptions, tax credits, or selective taxation that creates progressive distribution effects. For example, a wealth or property tax, a sales tax on luxury goods, or the exemption of sales taxes on basic necessities, may be described as having progressive effects as it increases the tax burden of higher income families and reduces it on lower income families.

Progressive taxation is often suggested as a way to mitigate the societal ills associated with higher income inequality, as the tax structure reduces inequality; economists disagree on the tax policy's economic and long-term effects. One study suggests progressive taxation is positively associated with subjective well-being, while overall tax rates and government spending are not.

Early examples

In the early days of the Roman Republic, public taxes consisted of assessments on owned wealth and property. For Roman citizens, the tax rate under normal circumstances was 1% of property value, and could sometimes climb as high as 3% in situations such as war. These taxes were levied against land, homes and other real estate, slaves, animals, personal items and monetary wealth. By 167 BC, Rome no longer needed to levy a tax against its citizens in the Italian peninsula, due to the riches acquired from conquered provinces. After considerable Roman expansion in the 1st century, Augustus Caesar introduced a wealth tax of about 1% and a flat poll tax on each adult; this made the tax system less progressive, as it no longer only taxed wealth. In India under the Mughal Empire, the Dahsala system was introduced in A.D. 1580 under the reign of Akbar. This system was introduced by Akbar's finance minister, Raja Todar Mal, who was appointed in A.D. 1573 in Gujarat. The Dahsala system is a land-revenue system (system of taxation) which helped to make the collecting system be organised on the basis of land fertility.

Modern era

The first modern income tax was introduced in Great Britain by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798, to pay for weapons and equipment for the French Revolutionary War. Pitt's new graduated (progressive) income tax began at a levy of 2 old pence in the pound ( or 0.83%) on annual incomes over £60 and increased up to a maximum of 2 shillings (10%) on incomes of over £200. Pitt hoped that the new income tax would raise £10 million, but actual receipts for 1799 totalled just over £6 million.

Pitt's progressive income tax was levied from 1799 to 1802 when it was abolished by Henry Addington during the Peace of Amiens. Addington had taken over as prime minister in 1801, after Pitt's resignation over Catholic emancipation. The income tax was reintroduced by Addington in 1803 when hostilities recommenced, but it was again abolished in 1816, one year after the Battle of Waterloo.

The present form of income tax in the United Kingdom was reintroduced by Sir Robert Peel in the Income Tax Act 1842. Peel, as a Conservative, had opposed income tax in the 1841 general election, but a growing budget deficit required a new source of funds. The new income tax, based on Addington's model, was imposed on incomes above £150. Although this measure was initially intended to be temporary, it soon became a fixture of the British taxation system. A committee was formed in 1851 under Joseph Hume to investigate the matter but failed to reach a clear recommendation. Despite the vociferous objection, William Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1852, kept the progressive income tax, and extended it to cover the costs of the Crimean War. By the 1860s, the progressive tax had become a grudgingly accepted element of the English fiscal system.

In the United States, the first progressive income tax was established by the Revenue Act of 1862. The act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, and replaced the Revenue Act of 1861, which had imposed a flat income tax of 3% on annual incomes above $800. The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1913, permitted Congress to levy all income taxes without any apportionment requirement. By the mid-20th century, most countries had implemented some form of progressive income tax.

Both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (NIT) was stumbled upon and discussed by various thinkers and is most commonly attributed to Milton Friedman, who made it more prominent in his 1962 work ‘Capitalism and Freedom’. The theory places itself as an alternative to the contemporary progressive tax systems which are deemed too bureaucratic and inefficient, it’s emphasized for its lower administrative costs and unitary system of providing welfare and support without discrediting the beneficiaries. It also eliminates unnecessary processes and institutions by directly providing to the substandard.

NIT is a system where the flow of the tax payment is inverted for salaries falling a specified threshold; Individuals surpassing the given level have to contribute money to the state, while those below are recipients of said funds. Theoretical framework of this idea could be referred back to William Petty, Vilferdo Pareto, and Paul Samuelson among others.

The adjustability of subsidies given to the poor households by the system eliminates the welfare trap issue faced by other proposals (i.e. means-test). The ‘wage subsidy’ is best demonstrated by the gap between ones salary, base pay, and real income post-subsidy. Once the minimal criteria defined by the according government is met, the recipient becomes the payer.

Milton provides five other advantages to NIT. It allows households and families to sustain themselves directly from their income without having to rely on other programs or plans. Secondly, it provides cash to the recipient, which is perceived as the most superior means of support. Thirdly, Milton claims that negative income tax could replace all other supporting programs and work as the universal program on its own. Fourthly, lower administration costs associated with NIT compared to other systems. Lastly, it should not, in theory, interfere with market mechanisms unlike other government interventionist laws (i.e. minimum wage).

A survey conducted in 1995 established that the majority of American economists advocated for the addition of a negative income tax into the welfare system. The United States federal government took a key interest on the matter and between 1968 and 1982 sponsored four experiments across various states to see the effects of NIT on labor supply, income, and substitution effects. As part of the result, most participants reduced their labor supply, especially the youth by as much as four weeks. These responses may seem imminent from a generous system like NIT.

NIT saw extensive use under President Nixon's Family Assistance Plan in 1969. It was also implemented in 1975 for the working poor through the earned income tax credit. The system is still in power today, but differs from the original theories of Milton and his supporters.

Measuring progressivity

Indices such as the Suits index, Gini coefficient, Kakwani index, Theil index, Atkinson index, and Hoover index have been created to measure the progressivity of taxation, using measures derived from income distribution and wealth distribution.Philip B. Coulter: ''Measuring Inequality'', 1989, (This book describes about 50 different inequality measures.)

Marginal and effective tax rates

The rate of tax can be expressed in two different ways; the ''marginal rate'' expressed as the rate on each additional unit of income or expenditure (or last dollar spent) and the ''effective (average) rate'' expressed as the total tax paid divided by total income or expenditure. In most progressive tax systems, both rates will rise as the amount subject to taxation rises, though there may be ranges where the marginal rate will be constant. Usually, the average tax rate of a taxpayer will be lower than the marginal tax rate. In a system with refundable tax credits, or income-tested welfare benefits, it is possible for marginal rates to fall as income rises, at lower levels of income.

Inflation and tax brackets

Tax laws might not be accurately indexed to inflation. For example, some tax laws may ignore inflation completely. In a progressive tax system, failure to index the brackets to inflation will eventually result in effective tax increases (if inflation is sustained), as inflation in wages will increase individual income and move individuals into higher tax brackets with higher percentage rates. This phenomenon is known as ''bracket creep'' and can cause fiscal drag.

Economic effects

There is debate between politicians and economists over the role of tax policy in mitigating or exacerbating wealth inequality and the effects on economic growth.

Income equality

Progressive taxation has a direct effect on decreasing income inequality. This is especially true if taxation is used to fund progressive government spending such as transfer payments and social safety nets. However, the effect may be muted if the higher rates cause increased tax evasion. When income inequality is low, aggregate demand will be relatively high, because more people who want ordinary consumer goods and services will be able to afford them, while the labor force will not be as relatively monopolized by the wealthy.''The Economics of Welfare]'' Arthur Cecil PigouAndrew Berg and Jonathan D. Ostry, 2011,
Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin
" IMF Staff Discussion Note SDN/11/08, International Monetary Fund
High levels of income inequality can have negative effects on long-term economic growth, employment, and class conflict. Progressive taxation is often suggested as a way to mitigate the societal ills associated with higher income inequality. The difference between the Gini index for an income distribution before taxation and the Gini index after taxation is an indicator for the effects of such taxation.

The economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez wrote that decreased progressiveness in US tax policy in the post World War II era has increased income inequality by enabling the wealthy greater access to capital.

According to economist Robert H. Frank, tax cuts for the wealthy are largely spent on positional goods such as larger houses and more expensive cars. Frank argues that these funds could instead pay for things like improving public education and conducting medical research, and suggests progressive taxation as an instrument for attacking positional externalities.

Economic growth

A report published by the OECD in 2008 presented empirical research showing a weak negative relationship between the progressivity of personal income taxes and economic growth. Describing the research, William McBride, a staff writer with the conservative Tax Foundation, stated that progressivity of income taxes can undermine investment, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and productivity because high-income earners tend to do much of the saving, investing, risk-taking, and high-productivity labor. In contrast, according to the IMF, some advanced economies could increase progressivity in taxation for tackling inequality, without hampering growth, as long as progressivity is not excessive. The IMF also states that the average top income tax rate for OECD member countries fell from 62 percent in 1981 to 35 percent in 2015, and that in addition, tax systems are less progressive than indicated by the statutory rates, because wealthy individuals have more access to tax relief.

Educational attainment

Economist Gary Becker has described educational attainment as the root of economic mobility. Progressive tax rates, while raising taxes on high income, have the goal and corresponding effect of reducing the burden on low income, improving income equality. Educational attainment is often conditional on cost and family income, which for the poor, reduces their opportunity for educational attainment. Increases in income for the poor and economic equality reduces the inequality of educational attainment. Tax policy can also include progressive features that provide tax incentives for education, such as tax credits and tax exemptions for scholarships and grants.

A potentially adverse effect of progressive tax schedules is that they may reduce the incentives for educational attainment.Heckman, J., L. Lochner and C. Tabner
Tax Policy and Human Capital Formation
American Economic Review, 88, 293–297. Accessed: 31 July 2012. By reducing the after-tax income of highly educated workers, progressive taxes can reduce the incentives for citizens to attain education, thereby lowering the overall level of human capital in an economy. However, this effect can be mitigated by an education subsidy funded by the progressive tax. Theoretically, public support for government spending on higher education increases when taxation is progressive, especially when income distribution is unequal.

Opposition and criticism

Hayek's argumentation

Friedrich Hayek viewed the implementation of progressive tax systems as incompatible with the principles of an open and liberal society. He argued that the imposition of higher taxes on higher incomes creates a bias against economic wealth and negatively impacts the incentives of the working age. His thought stems from philosophical and moral theories. Hayek believed that fiscal problems are partly to its foundations in moral philosophy practiced by society. Progressive tax prohibits the incentives of free market competition, whilst the wealth of the minority is subordinated to the democratic vote of a majority. This results in illegitimate transfers of political power.

Hayek believed the sweeping rise of progressive tax has risen from deceptive justifications which in reality didn't bring fruit. He claims the historical and methodological conditions gave way to the imposition of the system. He believed the system was established from ludicrous premises and failed to attain its redistributive goals. He said the progressive tax failed to benefit the poor, instead the benefit fell to the middle class who comprised the majority of voters, a majority which may push for tax changes.

Hayek advocated for a flat (or proportional) tax rate. Estonia was one of the first countries in Europe to adapt such a tax system.

Nozick's argumentation

Robert Nozick

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