Search
Home  |   About  |   Q & A  |   Archives  |   Credits  |   Contact  |  
« Technorati and MySpace Blogs
Austin Elections: Vote NO on Props 1 and 2 »

Tax Cuts Make Tax System More Progressive

Tax Chart

In my career as a Technical Writer, the best reference book that I’ve read and learned from is Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.*

Which is why I really appreciate this graph from the Joint Economic Committee, which was part of a report that concludes that the Federal Income Tax System is highly progressive after the recent tax cuts.

Glenn Reynolds remarks:

Of course, what’s really interesting is how little tax revenue comes from people in lower brackets.

Interesting, but not surprising. Looking at that 3.46% figure on the far right is a big part of the reason that I — along with Steve Forbes — favor a flat tax.

*Perhpas the best example of the visual display of quantitative information is Charles Joseph Minard’s map that displays the losses suffered by Napoleon’s army in the Russian campaign of 1812.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Friday, May 12th, 2006 | Trackback |

3 Responses to “Tax Cuts Make Tax System More Progressive”

Nothing you’ve written supports the claim that tax cuts made the system more progressive. In fact, you can’t because it didn’t.

Incidentally, you always know when people are being deceptive in tax discussions when they claim the tax system is progressive yet they leave out the largest catagories of taxes that the poor pay: payroll and sales taxes.

Finally, as a thought experiment: if person A makes 100 dollars and pays 2 dollars in taxes and person b makes 5 dollars but pays 1 dollar in taxes- do we have a progressive tax system? I’d say- not so much.

Left by Preston on May 12th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

Seriously?? Your support for the flat tax is based on a belief that our society doesn’t benefit the wealthy enough??

Even Forbes doesn’t believe that . . .

Left by Dan on May 12th, 2006 at 7:26 pm

Nothing you’ve written supports the claim that tax cuts made the system more progressive. In fact, you can’t because it didn’t

Coincidentally, he didn’t make that claim. What he said was that the system is “highly progressive after the tax cuts” not “more progressive after the tax cuts”. Of course it is much easier to argue with someone when you can just make up points with which to argue rather than disprove his ACTUAL points. Strawmen are much easier to defeat than real people.

Finally, as a thought experiment: if person A makes 100 dollars and pays 2 dollars in taxes and person b makes 5 dollars but pays 1 dollar in taxes

That’s not a “thought experiment”, that’s a mind game. Robbie could make up numbers to “demonstrate” his point too. That doesn’t prove anything other than your ability to make up random numbers. My three year old granddaughter can do that.

Your support for the flat tax is based on a belief that our society doesn’t benefit the wealthy enough

Where, exactly, is that sentiment expressed in Robbie’s post? I really hate to repeat myself. See my comment about arguing with strawmen above.

Robbie, you really need to attract higher quality detractors, this is too easy.

Have you checked out The Fairtax? A flat tax is still an income tax. As soon as politicians start needing to buy some votes, they will start legislating exceptions and deductions and credits. That would be much harder to do with a consumption tax like the Fairtax (which is the main reason that it has recieved so much resistance from Washington…it would remove much of the “appropriation” power from the hands of legislators). What are your thoughts on the isse?

Left by Sailorcurt on May 17th, 2006 at 8:15 pm

Got something you want to say?

Quicktags:


Notes:

You have 10 minutes after you submit your comment to edit it. Simply click the E(dit) link above the countdown-counter at the bottom of your comment. You can only edit a comment from the same IP address from where the original comment was submitted.

If your comment does not appear immediately, it has been sent to the moderation queue for approval.

Your comment either contained more than 2 hyperlinks, or it used a word(s) that are on my Spam blacklist. Comments awaiting moderation will usually be approved within a day.

And, being that it's my blog and all...I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.