Self-study
Passage A.
P1
██ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ █ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ████████ ███
Intro to Topic ·
Flat Tax
E.g., you earn $100; the flat tax rate is 26%; you pay $26 dollars in tax; you take home $74.
Conclusion ·
Flat tax works pretty well
P2
█████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ █████ █ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ █████████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██████████
Critics ·
Flat tax may work but is unfair
A more fair system is "progressive" which requires high-income earners to pay a bigger share.
P3
███ ███ █ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ███████ ████████ █ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███
Author's Rebuttal ·
Flat tax + threshold can be fair
E.g., say the threshold for exemption is $20; you earn $20; you pay $0 in tax; but say you earn $120; your first $20 is exempt from tax; the next $100 is taxed at 26%; so you pay $26 in taxes; you take home $94.
Author's Rebuttal ·
Flat tax brings in similar amounts from high earners
"Progressive" tax systems are complex resulting in high earners finding various ways to avoid tax. A flat tax system combined with an exempt amount threshold can deliver similar tax results and is much simpler.
███████ █
P4
█ ███ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███ █ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ █████ ███████ █████████ █████████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ █ █████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ████████
Progressive Tax is Misunderstood ·
Tax rate is the same on each layer of income
E.g. everyone pays the same low rate on the first, say, $100 of income; then everyone pays the same higher rate on the next, say, $100 of income; then everyone pays the same even higher rate on the next $100 of income. If you only make $100, you only pay the first low rate. If you make $300, then you split your $300 into three layers. You'll pay the first low rate on the first $100 layer; the next higher rate on the next $100; the next even higher rate on the final $100.
P5
███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ █ █████ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████████ █████ ████████████ ██ ███████
Premise ·
Lower layers of income are more important
Because lower layers of income go to pay for essentials.
P6
████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████████
Conclusion ·
Progressive tax is better
Flat tax is just an extreme version of progressive tax where there is only one layer of "progression." It goes straight from exempt to full tax. It's better to add in more layers of gradation.
Passage Style
26.
The authors of the two ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████
a
a flat tax ██████ ███ ██ ███████████
If anything, both Passage A and Passage B agree that a flat tax system can be progressive using various tax thresholds.
b
high-income earners would ███ ████ █████ █ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ █ █████████ ███████████ ██████
Passage A thinks high-income earners would pay about the
c
flat tax systems ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████████
There’s no disagreement over whether flat taxes can be put into practice. The issue is whether they’re fair or better than progressive taxes, not the feasibility of implementing them.
d
graduated progressive systems ████ █████████████ █████████ ███ █ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████
Passage A doesn’t discuss whether high-income taxpayers have to pay a higher rate on their entire earnings under a progressive system. Although Passage A does comment on the idea that progressive systems require high-income earners to “forfeit a bigger share of the incomes,” this is a different issue from whether those earners have to pay a higher tax rate on their entire earnings as opposed to just a portion of their income above a specified amount.
e
all of an ████████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████
This isn’t a point of disagreement. Passage A acknowledges that a threshold might be appropriate, under which income wouldn’t be taxed. Passage B doesn’t disagree with this.