What is fair about proportional tax?

The country you live in to a large extent determines your income. that is it is very hard to make $250,000 a year if you live in a poor country even if you work hard and go to college, so it is reasonable to argue the high income people are gaining more from being a citizen. There is also the practical matter that the top 20% of income earners get over half the income so if they did not pay at least half the tax our government would be funded at a much lower level. Retirement benifits are based on the amount of money they paid into the system not income taxes and welfare mothers are only a couple percent of the budget. People earning $250,000 a year pay $50,000 in federal taxes not $125.000 see the effect of taxes on peoples income in the US see

http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2008/03/16/ave...

Nobody ever said it was fair to have a proportional tax system just progressive. Economists say it's actually better for the economy because consumption falls as incomes rise so taxing the poor less raises consumption. The rich also have a greater interest at stake in the maintenance of most civil institutions like the police because they have more to lose. There's also the ole' level the playing field argument. If you wanted a fair tax you'd do like mike huckabee and institute a sales tax to replace income taxes. That would be regressive though because it wouldn't hurt a millionaire nearly as much as a middle class individual. Most progressive tax systems are carefully devised to prevent disincentivizing growth in income. Such as the welfare trap where people lose free money by getting jobs so they just don't. It's still always worth someones' while to make more and pay higher taxes.

So, the welfare mothers and the pensioners are at fault for their own poverty? Maybe some are, but to categorize them all as such is irresponsible and false. Societies have a moral obligation to take care of those who, through no fault of their own, cannot take care of themselves. Not everyone is able to go to college to get those good jobs. Look at the cost of college and how that excludes so many people. Then think about how many people are in the category of the "working poor". Good honest people who can barely make ends meet and who can't scrape together enough to fund a cushy IRA or 401k. Consider that there are countries where everyone pays a flat tax (that has been proposed in the US but will never happen). For instance, Denmark has a flat 50% rate so even fewer people have a chance to get rich. The upside is that everyone is taken care of, including free college, from birth to death. You decide what is fair.