The Robin Hood state: taxes are getting more progressive

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  The Economist.

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  Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from The Economist.

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  I'm your host Rosie Blau.

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  And I'm Jason Palmer.

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  Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

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  You've probably heard about the armies of mercenaries fighting in conflict zones around the world.

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  Many of them come from a single country in Latin America.

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  And there are nearly as many people who speak Spanish in America as there are in Spain.

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  Spanish language podcasts and books and Oscar nominees all point to a boom.

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  But in fact, Spanish may be reaching its peak in the country.

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  First up though, pretty much everybody agrees that income inequality is bad,

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  and nobody is a particularly big fan of paying taxes.

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  Governments have to do a lesser of the evils balancing act here with progressive tax systems.

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  Taking a bit more from the rich than from the poor, or a lot more from the rich.

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  You might call that wealth redistribution, or chalk it up to means tested entitlements.

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  Or you could just call it the welfare state,

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  even if in lots of places that phrase comes with lots of stigma.

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  In an era when the richest of the rich have an even greater share of wealth

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  than back in the robber baron days, you might think the welfare balancing act is out of balance.

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  But if you dig into the numbers, it seems that on average,

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