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

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progressive tax

A buoyant stock market and strong capital gains have turbocharged tax revenue in most states, especially those with progressive tax systems.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 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

A notorious strikebreaker noted for paying his workers abysmally low wages, the complicated robber baron also publicly supported progressive tax laws, including estate taxes.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2023

Accordingly we always see the legislator stopping, in his fiscal laws, before the subversive consequences of the progressive tax, and consecrating the necessity, the immutability of the proportional tax.

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