Happy EconEdMonth! Celebrate economics all month long by visiting EconEdMonth.org

Nearpod version available

Grade 9-12
,
Lesson

The Mathematics Behind Progressive, Regressive, and Proportional Taxes

Time: 60 mins,
Updated: March 24 2021,
Author: Walt Ellison, Signe Kastberg
Teacher Version
Objective Standards Summary Resources Procedure
Print

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define proportional, progressive and regressive taxes.
  • Create equations from a table or a graph to represent relationships between income and tax.
  • Represent average tax ratio as an equation in two or more variables.
  • Explain how the average tax ratio changes for different tax structures as income increases.

Standards

National Standards in Economics

State Standards

Common Core State Standards

Concepts

Average Tax Rate (or Ratio), Income Distribution

In this personal finance lesson, students will explore graphs to analyze the impact of different tax structures on families.

Resources

Procedure

Click NEARPOD VERSION: PROGRESSIVE,REGRESSIVE, & PROPORTIONAL TAXES to access an interactive version of the lesson powered by Nearpod: students interact and respond to questions on their device, and teachers will see their responses in real time!

 

Subjects:

Related Resources

Content Partner

Grades Higher Education, 9-12

EconoFact

On this website, you can see how the frameworks and theories taught in class relate to real-world timely events.
Key Concepts: Employment and Unemployment, Fiscal Policy, Income Distribution
20 mins
Article

Grades 9-12

Examining the Gini Coefficient

In this economics activity, students use Gini Coefficient data to compare income between countries.
Key Concepts: Income, Income Distribution
30 mins
Activity