for "regressive" and "progressive" to mean something useful, you need to take into account what the tax proceeds are used for. if a mildly regressive tax is use

for "regressive" and "progressive" to mean something useful, you need to take into account what the tax proceeds are used for. if a mildly regressive tax is used exclusively to fund healthcare for the poor, it's probably not regressive in the end. if a highly progressive tax is used exclusively to finance wars for the elite, it is probably not progressive in whole.