Question

There are 4 households in a locality. The annual income of the first household is $20,000, the annual income of the second household is $47,000, the annual income of the third household is $50,000, and the annual income of the fourth household is $71,000.Refer to the scenario above. If the first household pays 20% of its income as tax, the second household pays 17.5% of its income as tax, the third household pays 13% of its income as tax, and the fourth household pays 10% of its income as tax, income taxes are ________ in nature.

Answer 1

Answer:

regressive

Explanation:

A regressive tax is basically a tax whose rate increases as your income decreases. Generally you do not need to increase the marginal tax rate of lower income levels, all you need to do is have a flat tax that taxes everyone with the same amount. E.g. everyone pays $2,000 as income taxes. $2,000 per person represents 10% of the first household's income, but it only represents 2.7% of the fourth household's income.

On the other hand, progressive taxes increase as the income level of the taxpayers increases.