Reply #99: They're regressive by definition!

[Mairead]

A perfectly progressive tax would leave everyone with exactly the same amount of disposable income.

Any system that burdens people with more money less than it burdens people with less money is regressive.

It might be actively regressive, such as systems that provide loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid all tax, or passively regressive as in the case of flat-tax schemes, where no matter where you put the tax-free point, the top 0.5% of wealthholders will be less burdened than the people who are at the bottom of the taxable bracket.People might say 'who cares if the merely-wealthy get soaked more than the ultra-wealthy--they can all afford it', but we should be concerned with fairness for all...shouldn't we?