“Regressive,” as any practicing progressive knows, is the
opposite of “progressive.” Theoretically, a progressive income tax is levied on
those who, in the words most often used to defend the tax, can well afford to
“pay their fair share,” the fairness of their share to be determined,
naturally, by progressives. The sole purpose of the progressive income tax is
to shift the burden of tax payments from the poor to the rich.
During the war years, Franklin Roosevelt, spurred on by
progressives, signed into law the “Revenue Act of 1935,” a “wealth tax” that
raised the federal income tax to 75 percent on incomes over 5 million. The 5
million, as it turned out, was but a foot in the door. Under the administrations
of President Barrack Obama and Governor Dannel Malloy, millionaires have come
down in the world, and anyone who makes a quarter of a million per year is
considered, for progressive tax purposes, a millionaire.