ABILITY-TO-PAY PRINCIPLE: A principle of taxation in which taxes are based on the income or resource-ownership ability of people to pay the tax. The income tax collected by our friends at the Internal Revenue Service is one of the most common taxes that seeks to abide by the ability-to-pay principle. In theory, the income tax system is set up such that people with greater incomes pay more taxes. Proportional and progressive taxes follow this ability-to-pay principle, while regressive taxes, such as sales taxes and Social Security taxes, don't.

     See also | benefit principle | tax | income | public goods | progressive tax | regressive tax | proportional tax | circular flow |

ABILITY-TO-PAY PRINCIPLE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2022. [Accessed: July 4, 2022].

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A good for which a change in income causes an opposite change in demand. That is, an increase in income causes a decrease in demand and a decrease in income causes an increase in demand. The income elasticity of demand for an inferior good is negative. An inferior good is one of two alternatives falling within the buyers' income demand determinant. The other is a normal good.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time waiting for visits from door-to-door solicitors looking to buy either storage boxes for your winter clothes or several magazines on time travel. Be on the lookout for letters from the Internal Revenue Service.
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