The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Rosie Bloor.

And I'm Jason Palmer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

First up, though.

Pretty much everybody agrees that income inequality is bad, and nobody is a particularly big fan of paying taxes.

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

taking a bit more from the rich than from the poor, or a lot more

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

or you could just call it the welfare state, even if in lots of places that phrase comes with

lots of stigma. In an era when the richest of the rich have an even greater share of wealth than back in the

robber barren days, you might think the welfare balancing act is out of balance.

But if you dig into the numbers, it seems that on average, tax systems are getting more progressive,

not less.

Across the world, the welfare state has turned into what you might call a Robin Hood state.

Callum Williams is our senior economics writer.

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