In order to achieve social equity income which facilitates lower hierarchal needs should be taxed at a lower rate than income which tends to satisfy the higher needs. Secondly, it is a legitimate function of government to redistribute wealth from the affluent to the poor in the interests of social justice. The effect of the socialist view is that vertical equity demands not just a flat tax scale but a progressive tax scale to achieve fairness. This can be achieved by taxing income above a threshold level at incremental rates determined by gross income. The equitable footprint of socialists.
Tax rate rises with income.
Summary The above analysis is argued as a progression from the political right to the left. Furthermore, assessment of the equity of a tax may also have to take into account the incidence of a tax and the expenditure scheme of the tax collected. The burden of taxation may not remain at the point where it is imposed. The classical example is the imposition of a tax on the production of a good. If demand for widgets is inelastic consumers will continue to buy them and bear the tax.