Fixed tax

Taxation
An aspect of fiscal policy
Policies Government revenue Tax revenue Non-tax revenue Tax law Tax bracket Tax threshold Exemption Credit Deduction Tax shift Tax cut Tax holiday Tax advantage Tax incentive Tax reform Tax harmonization Tax competition Double taxation Representation Unions Medical savings account Tax, tariff and trade
Economics Price effect Excess burden Tax incidence Laffer curve Optimal tax Theory Optimal capital income taxation
Collection Revenue service Revenue stamp Tax assessment Taxable income Tax lien Tax refund Tax shield Tax residence Tax preparation Tax investigation Tax shelter Private tax collection Tax farming
Noncompliance Tax avoidance Tax evasion Tax resistance Tax haven Smuggling Black market Transfer mispricing Unreported employment Tax shelter
Distribution Tax rate Progressive Regressive Proportional
Types Direct Indirect Per unit Ad valorem In rem Capital gains Carbon Consumption Dividend Ecotax Excise Fuel Georgist Gift Gross receipts Income Inheritance (estate) Land value Payroll Pigovian Property Sales Sin Single Stamp Steering Turnover Value-added (VAT) Corporate profit Excess profits Windfall profits Negative (income) Flat Wealth
International Financial transaction tax Currency transaction tax Tobin tax Spahn tax Tax equalization Tax treaty European Union FTT
Trade Custom Duty Tariff Import Export Tariff war Free trade Free trade zone Trade agreement
Religious Church tax Eight per thousand Teind Tithe Fiscus Judaicus Leibzoll Temple tax Tolerance tax Jizya Kharaj Khums Nisab Zakat
By country List of countries by tax rates Tax revenues as %GDP Albania Algeria Argentina Australia Azerbaijan Bangladesh Bhutan Bulgaria Canada China Colombia France Germany Greece Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Lithuania Malta Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Palestinian territories Peru Philippines Poland Russia Singapore South Africa Sweden Switzerland Tanzania United Kingdom United States Uruguay

A fixed tax is a lump sum tax that is not measured as a percentage of the tax base (income, wealth, or consumption). Fixed taxes like a poll tax or sin tax are often considered regressive, but could have progressive effects if applied to luxury goods and services.

Since citizens share common roads, military protection, policing, and other government services, some argue that citizens should pay the same amount for basic infrastructure. Fixed taxation removes the moral dilemma of two individuals having to pay significantly different amounts in order to receive the same services, which could be argued as discrimination against economic success.

It is argued that a fixed tax can save on tax compliance costs and improves privacy. Unlike proportional taxes, a fixed tax does not necessitate public insight, i.e. governments would not need to know individual income, wealth, or consumption.

However, when applied as a precondition of membership in society or on products bought by the poor, it functions as a potentially extreme regressive tax in that it doesn't consider a person's ability to pay unless further adjustments are made (e.g. the way that the Australian HECS system applies tertiary education charges from a fixed schedule, but defers payments according to people's ability to pay by piggybacking payments as a progressively based surcharge on income tax). This can result in the lower income taxpayers paying much higher proportions of their incomes on taxes, incomes that are less disposable in that they must also pay a larger percentage of their incomes on necessities. Because of this, fixed taxes are better suited to funding governments which are not responsible for providing very much for the citizens and therefore do not have much to pay for.