11.   Republicans will push for replacing the current progressive tax code with a flatter tax or a national sales tax.

12.   Taxes on savings and investments that kill jobs are not progressive taxes.

13.   That means a code with progressive tax rates that take a larger fraction of income from the wealthy than from the poor.

14.   These rates do not make for an excessively progressive tax system.

15.   Third parties have a long history of spurring major reforms such as antitrust laws, the progressive tax system and child-labor laws, Verney said.

16.   To pay for this reform and yet preserve a progressive tax code, Auerbach would raise the statutory rate on wealthier families.

17.   Thus a model where luck is the driving force tends to yield a more progressive optimal tax than a model where ability is the driving force.

18.   This can be seen from its strong tendency to reduce government expenditures rather than expanding the tax base to the point of creating a progressive tax structure.