What this means is that the higher your income, the higher the percentage of tax you will have to pay. Taxes are a percentage of the annual income you earn, so the higher your income, the higher percentage you have to pay to the government in taxes. In a progressive tax system, the percentage that must be given to the government increases based on the amount you earn, the less money you earn in a tax year the less you have to give. For example, if someone earns $12,000 a year, they may fall into a 15% tax bracket, versus earning $35,000 where they may fall into a 27% tax bracket. As stated, this is the tax system America built today through trial and error, they should have found out by now that it doesn't work and isn't suited to today's economy. Someone might earn 10,000 this year but earn 20,000 the following year and the progressive tax system discriminates by charging them much more for that year of improved income which could have been a single incidence, and in return they lose money because the following year l 'individual had returned to previous low income income. Despite this they continue to be penalized with the application of the last tax bracket due to the jump in the taxable income of that high income year still in progress