Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Radical Change, Marginal Utility, Thomas Piketty
10 Dec 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Swift considers 5 things: taxation need not reduce the freedom of those who are taxed (ronald. Dworkin: taxes restrict my freedom only if i have right to my money) (g. a. Cohen: taxes always restrict my freedom because they limit my choices) Redistributed taxation reduces the freedom of the rich but increases the freedom of the poor: some would argue: 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, 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 an increase the total amount of effective freedom. We need to evaluate the importance or the value of freedoms: market societies make their members unfree by alienating them from their real interests.
