The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and JusticeIn a capitalist economy, taxes are the most important instrument by which the political system puts into practice a conception of economic and distributive justice. Taxes arouse strong passions, fueled not only by conflicts of economic self-interest, but by conflicting ideas of fairness. Taking as a guiding principle the conventional nature of private property, Murphy and Nagel show how taxes can only be evaluated as part of the overall system of property rights that they help to create. Justice or injustice in taxation, they argue, can only mean justice or injustice in the system of property rights and entitlements that result from a particular regime. Taking up ethical issues about individual liberty, interpersonal obligation, and both collective and personal responsibility, Murphy and Nagel force us to reconsider how our tax policy shapes our system of property rights. |
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction | 3 |
Chapter 2 Traditional Criteria of Tax Equity | 12 |
Chapter 3 Economic Justice in Political Theory | 40 |
Chapter 4 Redistribution and Public Provision | 76 |
Chapter 5 The Tax Base | 96 |
Chapter 6 Progressivity | 130 |
Chapter 7 Inheritance | 142 |
Chapter 8 Tax Discrimination | 162 |
Politics | 173 |
Notes | 191 |
| 209 | |
| 221 | |
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Common terms and phrases
ability to pay after-tax aims argument assessment baseline benefit principle Bradford chap chapter choice conception consequentialist consumption base consumption tax contribution cost deduction demogrant deontological deserve discussion distributive justice donee’s donor earners earnings economic effect efficiency egalitarian endowment endowment tax equal libertarian equal sacrifice equality of opportunity estate tax evaluation exemption expenditure fairness favor flat tax gifts and bequests gratuitous receipts gratuitous transfers horizontal equity idea income tax individuals inequality issue justice in taxation justified legitimate levels of welfare marginal rates marginal utility married couples ment moral nomic optimal tax people’s person political pretax income principle of equal problem progressive taxation property rights public provision question reason redistribution require responsibility revenue sense social justice society standard substitution effect tax base tax burdens tax justice tax policy tax scheme tax system taxpayers theory of justice tion tive unfair utilitarian vertical equity