WHEN 'PROGRESSIVE' DENOTES SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER

In the era of the 10 second sound byte, selection of the right word is paramount. For instance, after research showed that the American publics' opinion of the word 'liberal' was pretty low (ranking somewhere just above a root canal procedure in popularity), those of the liberal persuasion in the US were faced with a tough task. How to lift this approval percentage without amending the basic policies which had caused the perception in the first place ? Along came the logical answer-- call the same set of failed policies "progressive" and watch the approval ratings mount !

The strategy was nothing short of brilliant. Not only did it ensure that policies which were tainted with the "liberal" tag were suddenly repackaged, but the use of the word "progressive" ensured that those who opposed these initiatives were suddenly stuck with the tag "regressive".

Nowhere have these strategies worked better than in the area of tax rates and tax policy and nowhere have they done more damage to the cause of economic well being among so many.

From time immemorial, societies levied a flat rate of tax proportionate to income. In ancient India for instance, it was customary to collect tax at 1/6th of a person's total income. It is obvious that the flat tax operating then collected revenues in proportion to a person's total income. That however did not suit the income re-distributionists. For them, it became necessary to devise a solution to penalize the rich for actually having the temerity to get rich ! From this ideological mire emerged the so-called progressive tax structure.

Note clearly that the only thing 'progressive' about the tax structure was the upward progression of rates. In fact this led to economists describing this system initially (and accurately) as "a progressive tax rate system". Later, by a breathtaking linguistic legerdemain, the word "rate" was quietly dropped from the description and this system of steadily escalating rates became the "progressive tax system". The next step was obvious. Proponents of a flat tax percentage started being described as advocating a "regressive income tax system".

To take charge of this debate requires adopting the same linguistic tools used by the re-distributionist class. Perhaps we could make a beginning by calling the flat income tax proposal the "fair tax rate system". The proponents of the present escalating rate system can then be re-packaged as supporters of the "existing unfair tax rate system".

I know that most people would prefer that tax policy be formulated with reference to logical and valid arguments in favor of and against specific proposals. Entering the murky world of linguistic sword-play would appear to be attempting to get into the same quicksand. However, perceptions matter, and if a new name will do the trick of getting attention to this subject, then why not ?