Would you agree that a person earning more should not be using more government benefits and social resources than someone earning less, unless they pay extra for it? Once they have paid for it, their profits are legitimate and should not be taxed any more than anyone else's income. 

That would be the principle of true fairness. That word “fair” has been mutilated and distorted beyond recognition and its true meaning, along with other words like “freedom”, “democracy”, “socialism” or even “free market”  or “free trade”.

We all know deep in our hearts what is fair and what is not. It is not always politically expedient to speak our minds, but at least let us do so in our minds as we read this. I think it explains why the world over we see hardworking, enterprising even honest capitalists, being taxed more just because they earn more and are helpless under politically made laws.

Rather than come out and debate it, or work to change laws legitimately, many find it more convenient to use the system against itself and hence we see an obvious tendency for big, successful people and businesses having higher clout in the political process. This also results in making it easier for crooked capitalism to survive and thrive. 

Ultimately, any fair honest capitalist venture will find it difficult to survive against a more crooked and corrupt capitalist venture. It would not be competitive anymore. Hence, even the proportional taxing (even at a fixed rate of income or profit) is unfair in my opinion. Nowadays, even that “flat rate of tax” is a bad word and politically incorrect. There is talk of “fair share” of a tax on a person or individual of 50 percent or 75 percent or even 90 percent marginal rates! What is fair about that? Bill Gates does not consume more government services than an average citizen is entitled to. In fact, people like him probably save the system a lot by paying their way!

If the system is inherently fair, people will only make as much as they fairly deserve and they are entitled to keep. It is another matter that many will voluntarily give back and help others. Governments should not frame policy counting on that. It only breeds distortion, unfairness and corruption in the long run - something we see today. It also breeds distortion and corruption of words, dialogue and statements. This leads to using legal methods to keep earnings in other countries with different laws, capital flight and all kinds of unproductive, morally sapping work and keeps a lot of crooked operators who run this system and its counter agencies. It is totally wasted capital and resources. 

I believe that in a truly fair system, a person who does not contribute 20,000 times more than another will not earn 20,000 times as much. Something that we commonly see today. So, the supposedly “fair tax” system is causing a worse imbalance. That is because, the system in inherently unfair, even for an honest capitalist. A crooked capitalist probably has a fairer deal from society today.

What do you think of a fair, flat, fixed tax on all productive citizens?  We are far from it, as a society these days. If we want to achieve this, we should be decreasing taxes for productive earners to make it flatter, not more and more skewed even in percentage. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that we have an inherently unfair system as it is. This is what I see, when I look at things dispassionately and logically, taking into account a basic notion of fairness - take or give what you give or take and keeping one's fairly, honestly earned wealth to do as they wish (within bounds of equal, fair law).

It is possible to have a mixed socialist and capitalist economy and society, removing basic, fundamental unfairness and just implementing fair rules. The government should not be in the business of favoring one or another business, unfairly over other interests or the interests of the people. People, left free to work and be creative, under a fair system, will produce and give back a lot more than governments, politicians and political parties can ever do.

If one looked at things logically and considered “fairness” as a basic requirement and frames policies with that taken into account, I believe it will greatly reduce corruption of government and private individuals and companies. I also believe it will greatly boost productivity and actual benefits flowing into the society. I don't think it is easy to achieve the kind of fairness I mention here anytime soon. We seem to be moving away from it. I am not sure it is achievable politically or logically from the current economic mess around the world.

What do you think?

The original blog is at: http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1175065-28636.html