The Trunk

Were individuals at every income level taxed at a flat rate of, say, 20%, the wealthy would bear and pay back more as a matter of course. Twenty percent of $200,000 is a bigger number than 20% of $20,000. What Mr Obama means is that the wealthy ought to give up a larger percentage of their income. It’s rather less intuitive that fairness demands that the wealthy not only pay more in taxes, but pay a larger percentage of income. But let’s accept that fairness does require it. Anyway, high-earners in America do pay higher rates. In 2008, the top 1% paid 38% of all federal income taxes, and the top 5% paid 58%. Indeed, America is the industrialised world’s champion of income-tax progressivity! If any country’s upper-crust pays its fair share, America’s does.

Obama’s budget plan: Unseriously unfair | The Economist

Source: economist.com