Taxation

Taxes are barely progressive in the United States, according to Mark Thoma's blog The Economist's View

Is Extending the Bush Tax Cuts a Good Idea?

The liberal blogger The Daily Kos cites two sources - Moody's Analytics and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office - that say that cutting taxes for the rich will not stimulate the economy. The Moody's study uses empirical data from previous tax cuts and tax increases under Reagan and Clinton. Megan McArdle points out that the difference in the stimulus from cuts to the wealthy and cuts to the middle class is not that big.

Is It Always a Good Idea to Take From the Rich and Give To the Poor?

This touches on a long-running discussion among economic theorists: does the extra benefit of one more dollar reduce as income increases? (in the jargon, is there diminishing marginal utility of money?) It seems plausible that giving one more dollar to Bill Gates generates less additional happiness than giving one more dollar to a single mother on welfare, but it doesn't have to be true. If it were true, we could always make society collectively better off by taking the dollar from Bill Gates and giving it to the person on welfare.

This Op-Ed article "Don't Soak the Rich" argues that we shouldn't focus so much on the income side - that is, where taxes come from and how progressive the rates are. We should also consider where the money goes. If the money goes more to the poor than to the rich, the system is progressive.

Taxation Has Macro Implications

Supply-siders argue that the government should have a smaller role in the economy.

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