onomically harmful. The policies are viewed as unjust, because income is transferred from the producer to the non producer. They are viewed as economically harmful, because the sap the incentive of the producer to continue to produce, while they fail to develop in the non producer and incentive to become a producer. Conservatives, thus, tend to prefer flat rate tax structures, and tend to oppose social assistance for the economically deprived members of the society.
The liberal position is that a progressive tax structure (as opposed to a flat rate structure) is required, if the economically less fortunate in the society are to be able to receive minimally acceptable levels of the economic fruits of the national income (Carson, 1991). The liberal position contends that progressive tax systems in the past have failed to improve the lot of the poor largely because benefits for wealthy individuals are built into the tax code, and that, in turn, these benefits result in higher rates of taxation for the poor than for the wealthy. The liberal position also contends that an income distribution system, which for the last 50 years has provided the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans with over 40 percent of the total national income while providing the poorest 20 percent with less than five percent of national income, is an inherently flawed system. Liberals, thus, tend to support social assistance for the economically deprived in society and to oppose flat rate tax structures and heavy reliance on sales taxes and user fees which tend to be far more severe for the less wealthy.
The radical position says, in effect, to the conservatives and liberals "a pox on both your houses." The radical position on income
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