We examine the features of taxes and transfers that make them redistributive, emphasizing the distinct roles played by the progressivity of taxes and transfers and their size. A tax system's progressivity measures the extent to which taxes are a larger share of income for higher-income...

The amount of redistribution induced by a fiscal system depends on both its progressivity and its size of a fiscal system. Policymakers can induce any given amount of redistribution through a larger tax-and-transfer system with limited progressivity or through a smaller tax-and-transfer system...

We present a more thorough analysis of the progressivity and regressivity of tax increases and spending reductions. Our analysis highlights an important distinction between low-end and high-end progressivity. We refer to a policy as having low-end progressivity if it places smaller burdens...