What progressive really means.

[stevebreeze]

Or at least were the term originates, is from supporting progressive taxation. Lets not forget that progressive taxation was a long big fight, that many (myself included) would have never thought would have to be fought again.

I see many threads on how egregious the salaries of CEO's and entertainers are especially relative to those work for a paycheck at some of the least desirable minimum wage type jobs. One of the main reasons we have such a big gap between the top and the rest of us is lack of progressive taxation.

Imagine a CEO who cuts "costs" i.e. workers wages several 100 million dollars. The pattern in the recent past is that corporate executives then reward themselves with millions of dollars worth of bonuses or pay increases. They realize now a personal after tax benefit of 65% of their bonus. More like 85% if they turn their bonus into capital gains. If they had done the same thing in the 70's when the top marginal rate was 89%, there is far less personal profit in heinous acts against employees. Can there be any doubt that our current flater taxes are not just far less fair but actually driving in-equality?