Taxing the Rich - Essay Example

Every society is made up of people with different capabilities and also with various status when it comes to the possession of properties. There is the wealthy, Middle class and the poor and all live in the same society.

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The issue of how the rich should be taxed has been a big puzzle among the government and the other citizens. This is because whatever the country decides to tax the rich has significant consequences to the economy of that country. Some people argue that the rich should be taxed more since the poor out number them and they have more to offer. But if this happens the government will not be treating its citizens fairly as it is supposed to address them. Since treating the citizens fairly is the bedrock of democracy in a country. Taxing the wealthy different from the rest of the citizens means that the government will have to come up with criteria for defining the reach and also how much they should be taxed differently from the other citizens.

However when a compulsory argument comes in place the rich are taxed more than the rest citizens but this only happens to the countries that are not democratic. Karl Marx argued that taxing the rich more its offers some compensate to other government inequalities. But if the rich are more privileged by the government through the availability of resources than the rest then it is fair if they are taxed more to cater for their additional resources. Also if the citizens sacrifices for an activity and the rich have not carried the same burden then taxing the rich higher will compensate for the sacrifice of others. Through this compensation policy, it inclines to tax the rich more than the rest citizens, but this is to streamline things with others to enhance fairness (Karl, 1844).

In the ability to pay doctrine, is mainly used to justify why the rich should pay more than the other citizens since the have the capability to pay. They argue that it is very easy for a person earning a million dollar to pay one dollar as the tax. Hence the doctrines encourage that the tax should be given according to what one earns. Nevertheless, for the critics of this doctrine, they agree that it is easy for the rich people to pay one dollar as the tax but this will not be the best criteria to portray fairness in the country. Equal treatment means that there be set a flat tax whereby everyone pays the same amount regardless of his or her financial status as it is illustrated in the one person one vote policy hence the same policy should be adopted in the taxation system. Still, there are some of the individuals who feel the ability to pay doctrine is still not a fair system of taxing the citizens. However, the compensatory arguments sometimes carry the day because it has some legitimate reasons on why the rich are being taxed more compared to the ability to pay doctrine (Karl, 1844).

How to tax the rich is a debate that seems to have no definite answer, and it seems not to be ending anytime soon since every new century there emerges new changes on how the rich should be taxed without being biased to any side of their citizens.

Reference

Karl M. (1844). The economic and philosophic manuscript of 1844: Estranged Labour. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm