Progresivní nebo "rovná" daň - ekonomické i politické dilema[Progressive or "Flat" Tax - Economic and Political Dilemma]

There are currently held tough discussions among economists and policy makers on the most appropriate form of taxation that would be fair, simple, enough incentive to wage work and entrepreneurship and withal also providing sufficient revenue for the state to fund the services provided to citizens. In this debate two opposing views on the basic form of this system stand against each other, namely, whether it should tax the income in a progressive manner, as is the case with tax systems applied today in most countries, or in a proportional manner, which has been introduced in a limited extent in several countries, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. This article provides a brief description of the basic characteristics of both these approaches and summarizes the main arguments presented by their proponents and opponents. The next section describes the different variants of a proportional system, also known as a flat tax system, some of which currently exist only in the yet unrealized proposals, and in the end, then compare their pros and cons.