[tanker]

I consider a progressive tax code to be justified by supporting the system which permits large gains.

There is also an argument about holding onto large amounts of wealth being difficult without expending some of your resources to protect it. If nothing else, taxes spread the burden of the security apparatus around. If you have more to lose, you pay more to protect it.

[ethbro]

That's fair, and pretty earning-method-agnostic. Although resting strictly on that would seem to lack a justification for most tax-funded social welfare programs.