Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Rationality, Fee Tail, Positive Liberty
28 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Swift considers five answers to this question: taxation need not reduce the freedom of those who are taxed. Ronald dworkin: taxes restrict my freedom only if i have the right to my money in the first place. Cohen: taxes always restrict my freedom because they limit my choices. Redistributive taxation reduces the freedom of the rich but increases the freedom of the poor: redistribution can help people, regardless of its effects on freedom. Taxes can be used to provide public goods or to improve prospects for the worst off. So, redistribution can promote security, efficiency, equality, and happiness. Freedom is valuable but it is not the only value: redistribution can increase the total amount of effective freedom. Taxes reduce the effective freedom of those who are taxed, but can increase the total amount of effective freedom. We need to evaluate the importance or the value of freedoms: market societies make their members un-free by alienating them from their.
