Progressive Taxation and Catholic Social Teaching: A Moral Case for Proportional Contribution

Abstract

A system of progressive taxation is morally preferable to a flat tax under Catholic Social Teaching as it more adequately embodies the Church’s understanding of the common good, proportional distributive justice, the universal destination of goods, and the preferential option for the poor. While variations in policy remain legitimate, a flat tax fails to reflect the proportional moral obligations connected to political authority and wealth. While economists debate these systems in terms of growth or efficiency potential, CST evaluates them through the lens of justice, the common good, and the moral obligations inherent to wealth. Catholic Social Teaching provides a set of guiding principles related to building a morally upright society oriented towards the common good and holiness amid modern challenges. These principles are useful in the way people live their lives personally while also offering helpful commentary and counsel on an institutional level. The Church integrates scripture, scholastic synthesis, and Papal magisterium, not to prescribe technical billing and economic law, but to articulate what the moral truth is. Referencing Scripture, the natural law framework proposed by Thomas Aquinas, the political theology of Augustine of Hippo, and modern magisterial teaching including Rerum Novarum and Gaudium et Spes, it can be understood that taxation, as a compulsory exercise of state authority, which redistributes social resources, falls within the domain of moral theology and social ethics and can be reasonably understood through Church teachings.