Chapter 12

Now that you have had a chance to think about tax systems which type do you prefer - progressive, flat tax, income, consumption - there are quite a few possibilities.  How do you think the concept of equity or fairness fits into a tax system? Last year Colorado voted on a progressive tax system - the initiative failed and we still have a flat income tax system here (4.63%).  After reading this chapter would you change your vote?

I think that my concept of equity and fairness is similar to what our text reads; Equity, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I feel that the vertical equity has more fairness to its concept than the horizontal one.Vertical equity and proportional taxes go together. I would prefer a proportional tax system where everyone pays the same percentage of their income. The proportional is where high income and low income taxpayers pay the same fraction of income. I do not believe that people whom are wealthier than others should have to pay a higher percentage, and I am in the lower tax bracket/poor. People with lower incomes usually use government services more than higher income people. I can see where the regressive tax would come in, but I do not feel that is a fair tax system either.

The reason I feel vertical equity and proportional taxes go together is the fact that taxpayers with a greater ability to pay taxes do pay larger amounts. If you make $100,000 per year your going to pay more money in taxes than someone who makes $50,000 per year, but your both paying the same percentage of your income. So essentially those two systems create a "true" working tax system.

I would not change my vote to a progressive tax system. In our area we receive a lot of taxes from second home owners. Eagle County is fairly wealthy compared to other counties in the state.