New measures of the degree of overall income tax progression in the United States are provided for the period 1969 to 1995. Indices of progression from the distributional and tax scale invariant classes of measures are considered. The sensitivity of measures of progression to the income concept...

Micro data from audited tax returns are used to evaluate changes in the actual progressivity of U.S. federal income taxes in 1979 and 1988, which is distinct from apparent progressivity. Statistical inference methods are applied to global measures of both actual and apparent residual and...