Final answer:
The tax on gasoline is a regressive tax because it takes a larger percentage of income from lower earners compared to higher earners, evidenced by Deanna and Ross's case where Ross pays a higher share of his income despite both buying the same amount of gas.
Step-by-step explanation:
Based on the scenario where Deanna and Ross both purchase the same amount of gas but with Deanna earning almost twice as much as Ross, we can infer that the tax on gasoline acts as a regressive tax. A regressive tax structure implies that as income increases, the amount of tax paid does not increase at the same rate, resulting in lower-income individuals paying a larger percentage of their income towards the tax in comparison to higher-income individuals. This is exemplified by the fact that although Deanna earns more, she pays a smaller share of her income in gas taxes compared to Ross.
As the excerpt suggests, excise taxes like the gas tax are often considered regressive because they tend to consume a larger fraction of income from those with lower earnings compared to those with higher earnings. Therefore, despite Deanna and Ross purchasing identical amounts of gasoline, the proportion of income spent by Ross on the gas tax is higher due to his lower income.
The data provided shows that the tax on gasoline is regressive. A regressive tax means that as income increases, the proportion of income paid in taxes decreases. Since Deanna earns almost twice as much as Ross, but they both pay the same amount for gas each week, Deanna's share of her income that she pays for gas tax is smaller than the share Ross pays.