A Tax Tutorial for Jonathan Chait
6th February 2012
Veronique de Rugy takes another lefty scribbler to the woodshed.
Over at New York magazine’s website, Jonathan Chait challenges my claim that the United States’ federal tax system is more progressive than other Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, including countries that Chait probably admires for their welfare states such as France.
I assume this fact bothers him because he likely believes that one factor behind income inequality is a lack of progressivity in the tax code. If I’m correct that the United States has a more progressive tax code than other countries that may have less income inequality than the U.S., it undermines one of the arguments for higher tax rates on the rich.