Tax Fairness and Folk Justice

Download or read book Tax Fairness and Folk Justice written by Steven M. Sheffrin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the discussion of tax fairness today focuses on distribution - who gets what. But this is too limited a focus. To the average person, tax fairness means something else: primarily receiving benefits commensurate with the taxes one pays, being treated with basic respect by the law and the tax authorities, and respecting legitimate efforts to earn income. The average person is not totally indifferent to inequality, but concerns for redistribution are moderated by the extent to which income and wealth have been perceived to be earned through honest effort. This book demonstrates how an understanding of "folk justice" can deepen our understanding of how tax systems actually work and how they might potentially be reformed.