In “The Inequity of the Progressive Income Tax,” Kip Hagopian examines whether progressive income taxation can be justified on grounds of fairness. Using the “Class Wars” parable as a starting point, he explores how aptitude, work effort, occupation, and luck affect income and evaluates the major intellectual arguments for progressive taxation—including the benefits principle, sacrifice theory, ability to pay, income redistribution, and social justice. Hagopian ultimately argues that progressive taxation unfairly penalizes additional work effort and proposes a degressive system, in which income above a subsistence threshold is taxed proportionately, as a less inequitable alternative.