It does not, unless you define "equally" in a very particular way. Under consumption-based tax schemes, poor people spend a larger portion of their income on t

It does not, unless you define "equally" in a very particular way. Under consumption-based tax schemes, poor people spend a larger portion of their income on taxes than rich people (because they spend more of their income, and consumption taxes are a tax on spending). I'm not sure what you mean when you say that progressive taxes are a sham. The goal of taxing rich people at a higher rate than poor people seems pretty obviously good. Maybe the implementation issues wherein unrealized capital gains aren't captured? But that's particular to our implementation of taxes, not to progressive taxes generally.