Word: taxed
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...Fairness” has long been a coveted prize from the political grab bag of vacuous words. Conservatives invoke “fairness” when claiming that the top quintile of income earners already pays 66.6 percent of federal taxes. Liberals fire back that the Bush tax cuts—which gave the richest one percent of Americans an average rebate of $75,800, and middle-income families a mere $1,100—are grossly “unfair.” Each claim is no doubt true, but they appeal to two distinct, and incommensurable, conceptions...
From a practical point of view, then, voluntary taxes might be a good idea. It fosters a sort of value pluralism. Mr. Hughes put forth his proposal because 37 percent of Utah voters, in a recent poll, claimed they didn’t want a state tax cut that year, preferring instead increased spending on public goods like education and roads. A similar attitude towards public expenditure led 1,488 Massachusetts taxpayers to vote for a higher tax rate for Medicaid in 2003, after tax cuts were passed the previous year. If voluntary taxes increase states coffers, there should...
Even the most left-leaning of wealthy liberals will balk at the idea of paying extra taxes, pointing to the sheer size of government expenditure. With a proposed federal budget of $2.9 trillion next year, an extra five percent of one’s income (the approximate size of the Bush tax cut for high earners) will neither provide more funds for schools nor reduce income inequality...
However, if you believe in the inherent value of democracy (or of protecting the environment), then voting (or conservation) is a moral obligation. Its ultimately negligible impact is irrelevant. Naturally then, outrage from affluent liberals about tax cuts rings all too hollow, unless they are making regular contributions to charity...
...question of voluntary taxes gets to the heart of the problem of democracy: Majoritarian voting guarantees that minority views are often marginalized—in this case, producing a less progressive tax code. Someone’s conception of justice is left unrealized...