Paper's abstract

Francesco d' Agostino, Thoughts about the Fairness of Taxes
Why do we have to pay taxes ? Owing to the State' sovereignty? It is then necessary to explain why the State has the right to levy taxes, in other words, we have to find what underlies sovereignty. Is it to manage and promote public good? One must then accept the existence of a collective subject: an hypothesis dismissed by all those who insist on the bad distribution of taxes. However the State is not a contract. And if private interests have to be promoted by the State, it has obligations towards the taxpayers, before anything, it must effectively allow the realisation of everybody's freedom. Therefore the functions of the State must be assessed according to their qualities and not their quantities.

Key Words : sovereignty, State, common good, freedom
t. 46, 2002 : p. 281-290

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