The tax rates vary from 10% up to 35%, as you go up the income scale [2]. So, there are your progressive taxes.
Income taxes vary from 10-35%. Payroll taxes vary from ~14% down to infinitesimal as you go up the income scale, they are not progressive, and for the people at the bottom end of that 'progressive' scale, they tend to cost more than income taxes.
It's frustrating that I even have to make this point. Everybody knows about this, and yet when these discussions happen, it's like payroll taxes don't exist, or don't count, or somehow or another are not part of the debate. For that matter, neither are capital gains.
We have the highest incarceration rate, full stop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcerat...