One very interesting passage from this chapter that stuck me was, "In America, where much of our revenue comes from the income tax, high taxes discourage... income? Will people really stop or start working based on tax rates? Yes- especially when the worker involved is the family's second earner" (Wheelan 49). A New York Times columnist, Virginia Postrel, states that tax rates have become an issue of feminism because a family's second earner is often a woman. She explains a study that shows that when marginal tax rates of high income women dropped, their employment levels rose significantly.
This passage fascinates me because I had no idea that tax rates are playing such a large role in deciding whether someone, usually a high-class wife, has the opportunity to participate and find enjoyment in the work force. It seems wrong to deprive someone of this free choice, and it seems backwards that a family with two working parents might end up being worse off due to high taxes than if only one was working. This information is interesting to me and it broadens my knowledge of the effects of income tax rates.
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