while the bottom two quintiles actually paid negative effective income taxes, because of provisions like the

earned income tax credit. News stories occasionally report on a high-income person who has managed to pay

very little in taxes, but while such individual cases exist, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the

typical pattern is that people with higher incomes pay a higher average share of their income in federal income

taxes.

Of course, the fact that some degree of redistribution occurs now through the federal income tax and
government antipoverty programs does not settle the questions of how much redistribution is appropriate, and
whether more redistribution should occur.

The Ladder of Opportunity

Economic inequality is perhaps most troubling when it is not the result of effort or talent, but instead is

determined by the circumstances under which a child grows up. One child attends a well-run grade school and
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