Tuppil, Marielle G.
1 TM C
Is Taxation Ethical?
The great Albert Einstein once said that the hardest thing to understand in the world is the
income tax; others see it as an unnecessary liability beneficial only for the richest of people, but is
it really? Taxation, in a general definition, is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of
levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to fund various public
expenditures. The ethicality of taxation goes way back to the ancient times when a Roman Caesar
imposed tax upon the Jews, it can be seen in the Bible where Jesus answers “Render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. My rough interpretation of
this phrase is that if you’re a citizen of “Caesar” and you have access to Caesar’s privileges, then
it is not bad to pay back Caesar a decent amount.
The very concept of taxation is that people contribute an amount of their income for the
betterment of their community and their country. Roads, bridges, and other necessary
infrastructures for public convenience exist because of taxation. The ethicality of it however lies
upon the very implementation of it. When you think of contributions, equality usually comes to
play, but equal doesn’t necessarily mean ethical; the tax systems charge unequal amounts of tax to
the citizens because of the unequal capabilities of them. The less capable people pay less tax, and
the more capable pay more, therefore, equity comes into play instead of equality which makes it
more ethical, tax is compulsory only if you have the means to pay for it.
Taxation is the lifeblood of the nation, it is essential for the government and society’s
survival and development. Without it, the world as we see it may no longer exist. I don’t think of
it as a liability to settle for the benefit of specific persons, but for the benefit of the whole nation,
so pay your taxes. Taxation is ethical, but tax evasion isn’t.