It’s worth not entirely trusting Bob Reich on Adam Smith, and I should have double-checked myself. The full quote I cited yesterday does not alter its meaning, but I’m grateful to Gavin Kennedy for the following:
The context in which Adam Smith is making this wholly acceptable assertion is in his discussion of house rents, which is a commodity widely differentiated by quality, convenience and splendour, and it begins:
“A tax upon house-rents, therefore would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be any thing very unreasonable.” Professor Reich’s quotation follows: “The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.” [WN V.ii.e.6: p 842]
It’s really about the wisdom of taxing luxury items, and not a defense of the kind of punitive, aka, "progressive" income taxation schemes of the left.
The Dish 