The Myth of Ownership
Taxes and Justice
Published on 11. April 2002
239 pages
978-0-19-803419-3 (ISBN)
Description
In 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.
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Liam Murphy
The Myth of Ownership
Book
04/2002
Oxford University Press Inc
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Persons
Liam Murphy teaches law and philosophy at New York University. He is the author of Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory. Thomas Nagel teaches law and philosophy at New York University. He is the author of Moral Questions, Equality and Partiality, and The Last Word.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- Chapter 2. Traditional Criteria of Tax Equity
- I. Political Morality in Tax Policy: Fairness
- II. Vertical Equity: The Distribution of Tax Burdens
- III. The Benefit Principle
- IV. Ability to Pay: Endowment
- V. Ability to Pay: Equal Sacrifice
- VI. Ability to Pay as an Egalitarian Idea
- VII. The Problem of Everyday Libertarianism
- VIII. Horizontal Equity
- Chapter 3. Economic Justice in Political Theory
- I. Political Legitimacy
- II. Consequentialism and Deontology
- III. Public Goods
- IV. Benefits for Individuals
- V. Efficiency and Utilitarianism
- VI. Distributive Justice, Fairness, and Priority to the Worst Off
- VII. Equality of Opportunity
- VIII. Legitimate Means and Individual Responsibility
- IX. Rewards and Punishments
- X. Liberty and Libertarianism
- XI. The Moral Significance of the Market
- XII. Personal Motives and Political Values: The Moral Division of Labor
- XIII. Conclusion
- Chapter 4. Redistribution and Public Provision
- I. Two Functions of Taxation
- II. Paying for Public Goods
- III. Which Goods Are Public?
- IV. Redistribution
- V. Transfer or Provision?
- VI. Public Duties
- VII. Conclusion
- Chapter 5. The Tax Base
- I. Efficiency and Justice
- II. Outcomes, not Burdens
- III. The Consumption Base and Fairness to Savers
- IV. Fairness as Equal Liberty
- V. Desert and the Accumulation of Capital: The "Common Pool
- VI. Wealth and Welfare
- VII. Wealth and Opportunity
- VIII. Endowment and the Value of Autonomy
- IX. Exclusions and Credits
- X. Transitions
- Chapter 6. Progressivity
- I. Graduation, Progression, Incidence, and Outcomes
- II. Assessment of Outcomes
- III. Optimal Taxation
- IV. Tax Reform
- Chapter 7. Inheritance
- I. The "Death Tax
- II. The Tax Base of the Donee
- III. No Deduction for Donors
- IV. Details and Objections
- V. Equal Opportunity and Transfer Taxation
- VI. Conclusion
- Chapter 8. Tax Discrimination
- I. Justifying Differential Treatment
- II. An Example: The Marriage Penalty
- III. Incentive Effects and Arbitrariness
- Chapter 9. Conclusion: Politics
- I. Theory and Practice
- II. Justice and Self-Interest
- III. Plausible Policies
- IV. Effective Moral Ideas
- Notes
- References
- Index
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