The Great Divide is a series about inequality. Debates over the
fairness of the tax code are as old as the federal income tax
itself. A cornerstone of the tax — established a century ago, by
the 16th Amendment — has been the principle that those who make
more should pay more, while lower tax rates help the poor to
support their families and depend less on government benefits.
That social compact shifted into high gear during the Nixon
administration, which tried to incentivize work by rewarding
low-income households with a tax break that became the nation’s
most successful antipoverty tool ever: the earned-income tax
credit. Politicians of both parties have embraced the credit,
making it more progressive three times since it was enacted in
1975. While the federal government has largely stuck by the
principle of progressive taxation, the states have gone their
own ways: tax policy is particularly regressive in the South and
West, and more progressive in the Northeast and Midwest. When it
comes to state and loc