Horizontal equity principle: tax liability ought to be the same for any two families with the same level of well-being.
Tax code is the most discriminatory body of law in a country that has tried to exterminate discrimination everywhere else in society. ---- Alvin Rabushka
We are all in the tax game together, and what is a privilege to one group of people ends up being a penalty to everyone else through high tax rates.
Taxing some goods but not others would not be a major problem for horizontal equity if the taxed goods represented the same share of total income for most people. The fact that tastes vary renders horizontally equitable a policy that relates tax burden to tastes.
Many aspects of the U.S. income tax system can be viewed as discriminating against certain people simply because of their tastes.
As long as we desire a progressive tax system based on family income, there is no way to make it also marriage-neutral.
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