[traeblain]

That's not necessarily regressive, if a billionaire buys the same house someone making $70,000/yr doesn't make it regressive. It's not linearly progressive (ie 1:1 ratio of taxes to taxable amount), but is still progressive. Current income taxes (federal at least) are more regressive even though quantity of money might still be higher for higher income individuals.

I could be completely wrong, tax stuff confuse the hell out of me...

[tomkarlo]

If the ratio of taxes to income isn't rising with income or at least keeping constant (which is what I think you're referring to as "linear"), your marginal tax rate is declining as income rises. I think you maybe mean it's staying constant with consumption, but that's kind of the problem - people with higher incomes tend to consume a smaller portion of their overall income, so taxes based on consumption are usually regressive.

That's pretty much the definition of regressive when it comes to taxes - people making more are being taxed less, proportionally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regressive_tax