1.
progressive / graduated (increase in steps, typically of taxation or fees)
A system in which a rate, charge, or punishment increases in stages or tiers as some underlying quantity (income, usage, severity) rises. Most commonly seen in compounds: 累進課税 (progressive taxation), 累進税率 (progressive tax rate), 累進制 (graduated/progressive system). Bare 累進 on its own is rare in conversation; it almost always appears in such compounds in tax, finance, legal, and policy writing.
Under a progressive system, the higher one's income, the higher the tax rate.
累進 expresses a graduated, step-by-step increase. It is used almost exclusively in fixed compounds, especially in tax and finance.
Forms
- 累 ("to accumulate, to pile up") + 進 ("to advance, progress") → 累進
Compounds
- 累進課税: progressive taxation
- 累進税率: progressive tax rate
- 累進制: progressive / graduated system
- 累進的: progressive (in nature) — used adjectivally
Common patterns
- Bare 累進 as a standalone noun is uncommon; it nearly always combines with 課税, 税率, 制, or 的.
- Frequently contrasted with 比例 ("proportional, flat") and 逆進/逆累進 ("regressive").
Similar / related terms
- 累進的: progressive (adjectival form, e.g., 累進的な税制 "a progressive tax system")
- 累計: cumulative total — a related word with 累 but different meaning (the running total of accumulated amounts)
- 比例税: proportional / flat tax — the typical contrast in tax policy
- 逆進的: regressive (of taxation) — the opposite tendency
- 段階的: step-by-step — overlaps in spirit but is much more general
Usage
- Outside of tax and policy writing, you may also see 累進 in the phrase 累進処遇, an old term in Japanese prison administration referring to a graded incarceration system in which inmates' privileges progress with good behavior. This usage is technical and rare in everyday text.
- Glasses with 累進レンズ refers to progressive (multifocal) lenses — a separate technical sense from optometry, where lens power increases gradually from top to bottom.