progressive tax

Cultural  

1. A tax that takes a higher proportion of large incomes than of small ones. (Compare regressive tax.)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

progressive tax

California has a progressive tax system under which the top 1% of taxpayers paid 36.6% of the state’s income taxes in 2023, the most recent year of data, according to the California Franchise Tax Board.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

The U.S. has a progressive tax system, meaning most people are taxed in multiple tax brackets, at rates that increase as their taxable pay rises past thresholds.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025

“We have a pretty progressive tax policy in the state here already,” he told reporters in November.

From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2024

“I think that there are parts of the income-driven repayment that actually can contribute to a more progressive tax policy, and there are parts that I think are a mistake,” she said.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023

Thus, in trying to reach the rich, the progressive tax always reaches the consumer; and it is impossible for it not to reach him without suppressing production altogether: what a mistake!

From System of Economical Contradictions; or, the Philosophy of Misery by Proudhon, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)