Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Taxation and public good

Rate this topic


Mfi

Recommended Posts

Do governments have the responsibility of providing public services for individuals or groups of people that do not pay tax/ do not want to pay tax? Could the famous slogan "No taxation without representation" be reversed and read as "no representation (and therefore provision of public good) with out taxation." There are certain communities in South East Asia and in Africa that are hard to 'govern' and therefore collect taxes from. Should government be accountable for not providing basic social services there? Or in cases where they pay to small... Does the government have a responsibility of raising funds from other places and meeting their needs?

 

Edited by Mfi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A government has the responsibility to protect individual rights withing its jurisdiction.

If a group of people living in a province aren't pulling their weight, then the rest of the country has the right to get rid of them...completely. As in "you're no longer part of our country, feel free to form your own government, or join a different country".

But no government has the right to both claim jurisdiction and refuse to uphold individual rights over a geographic area.

Edited by Nicky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But when has this ever happened?... a government telling its people to form their own? Successful secessions are usually demanded by the people themselves. States and the international system fights against such tendencies though, they always want to keep the status quo. Places like Somali land, western sahara, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, tibet and until recently Palestine... remain unrecognized by many countries. Let alone refusing to pay tax, armed struggles are not sufficient enough to create independent states...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But when has this ever happened?... a government telling its people to form their own? Successful secessions are usually demanded by the people themselves. States and the international system fights against such tendencies though, they always want to keep the status quo. Places like Somali land, western sahara, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, tibet and until recently Palestine... remain unrecognized by many countries. Let alone refusing to pay tax, armed struggles are not sufficient enough to create independent states...

I never said that it is wrong to prevent a secession. But, if a central government does that, then it has the obligation to protect the rights of the people in the lands they claim jurisdiction over...irrespective of how much they contribute.

All those regions you listed are attempting to secede for the purpose of imposing tyranny that is worse that the status quo. They shouldn't be allowed to secede.

Palestine is even worse: the Palestinians don't just want to secede and impose tyranny over the land they currently live on, they want to also take over large areas where Israeli citizens live...and they want to displace or murder the people who live in those settlements. Some, like Hamas, want to take over the whole of Israel in fact.

That's what they're not being allowed to do. Israel (and Israeli allies) would be more than happy to let Palestine be its own country...if it's on Israel's terms...meaning that the border is drawn where the de facto border has been since the last war. Not where it was before the last war (in which Israel acted in self defense).

Israel is even willing to offer concessions on that, in exchange for peace. Much like they did in Gaza, where they forcibly removed Israeli settlers, hoping that would create peace. It didn't work, Gaza has become more belligerent towards Israel, not less.

Also, it's important to note that Israel does in fact NOT occupy or claim jurisdiction over Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank and Gaza. It claims jurisdiction over Jerusalem, and Jewish settlements, and it protects the rights of everyone (Jewish or Muslim) in the areas it claims jurisdiction over.

 

P.S. A good solution, when dealing with relatively civilized provinces, is to offer limited autonomy. This can range from the German/Japanese/US federal model (with relatively limited autonomy for the individual states/provinces) all the way to the UK model, or the EU model (with a high degree of autonomy for individual countries, but some judicial and legislative oversight from the central government).

But that model doesn't work for a region that is dominated by theocracy or belligerent nationalism. Every bit of power a relatively free government hands to a group of thugs will be used against innocent people and the central government. Thugs should not be allowed any power or autonomy.

Edited by Nicky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...