THE link between success and luck is stronger than many people think.

Analysis of this connection provides a useful framework for weighing the issues raised around the country at recent “tea parties,” where orators in high dudgeon bemoaned their “crippling” tax burdens. Responding to President Obama’s plan to let the Bush tax cuts for top earners expire in 2010, one protester’s placard read, “Spread your own damn wealth around!”

Other protesters contended that the tax system already strains the vital connection between individual effort and reward and warned that further tax increases might destroy it.

But these accusations don’t withstand scrutiny. The current system is much fairer than many people believe, and the president’s proposal will make it both fairer and more efficient.

Contrary to what many parents tell their children, talent and hard work are neither necessary nor sufficient for economic success. It helps to be talented and hard-working, of course, yet some people enjoy spectacular success despite having neither attribute. (Lip-synching members of boy bands? Money managers who bet clients’ retirement savings on subprime-mortgage-backed securities?)