“it’s why we have a progressive tax instead of a flat tax”
And progressive taxes are unequal taxes.
“It’s been that way since...”
So?
“You cannot argue the rules are different for different people.”
Yes I can. You just admitted it. To my pointing out there is different handling of different brackets you said “of course there is.” That’s why we have a progressive tax. Well, I hats to have to connect the dots so tediously for you, but different rates for different brackets is different rules for different people.
“It clearly would be if the rates on the same income were different for people of different copies”
Why? I mean, why would that be so clear and different rates for different incomes obscure? Because it’s the same principle, only different means of classification. The government had to choose to divide people along income lines. They didn’t find them that way. They had to take a pair of individuals and say, “You, come here; you, stay where you are.”