A Re-Reexamination of Comparative Tax Progressivity in the United States

Abstract

Indices of progressivity may need some arbitrary assumptions for their calculation. The assumptions the authors make are no more unreasonable than those suggested by Kiefer. Those that are salient concern the mean incomes in each bracket and the movement of families between brackets in the pre- and posttax distributions. If one accepts the authors' assumptions as reasonable, then there is little correlation between transitional measures of progressivity and more modern welfare-based measures.