America’s tax system is more "progressive" than most countries, and was so even before the recent tax increases on high-income households and investment income. Even before recent tax increases, Mitt Romney paid more in taxes in the U.S. than he would have in Canada and much of Europe (and the developing world, too -- Russia has a flat 13 percent tax rate, much lower for middle and upper income households than the U.S.). Thus, many complaints by progressives have no basis. Our corporate tax rate is among the highest in the world, as even left-leaning PolitiFact admits. Conservatives have as much reason to complain about the U.S. tax code as "progressives" do.
Government definitions of income are arbitrary and exaggerate poverty and inequality by excluding welfare benefits from the income of many “poor” people, and excluding certain types of non-taxable income received by people who really are not poor at all.
Progressives wrongly blame violent crime in America – and the Sandy Hook shootings in particular — on economic inequality. But as I explained earlier, America is actually one of the most egalitarian countries on Earth, if equality is measured in terms of meaningful things such as living space, adequate housing, and material possessions (such as consumer goods and appliances), rather than just people’s nominal incomes, as I documented at this link.
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