Tax evasion has persistently carried severe penalties, although its intended deterrence effect is highly doubtful. We can safely say that it is based on the widely shared assumption among government officials that tax evasion is among the more serious crimes. In other words, the rationale of the...

Several Congresses have passed various forms of minimum tax, both at the individual and corporate level. They have even passed alternative minimum tax bills to squeeze out additional tax revenue that would not otherwise be forthcoming. The problem was caused by the philosophy of taxation they...

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was an economist and journalist. A member of the French Liberal School, he is best known for his free trade ideas and his philosophy of law. Mark Blaug ranks him as one of the 100 greatest economists before Keynes. Schumpeter called him a brilliant economic...

Should accountants be punished for aiding and abetting tax evasion? The impulsive reply, as well as the politically correct answer, is “yes.” However, closer reflection reveals that the answer is not so cut and dried. This paper reviews the major ethical arguments that take the position that...

This article comments on the article written by Ulrica Nylén that was based on a survey of Swedish CEOs. The author challenges some of Nylén's premises, most notably the concept of stakeholder interest and the duties that taxpayers owe to various groups

In this article I address the normative basis Kant provides for taxation. There exists a significant literature already that applies “Kantian” principles to the understanding of taxation but it does so in a limited way that shows little grasp of the structure of Kant’s ethics. Here I set...

Several Congresses have passed various forms of minimum tax legislation, both at the individual and corporate level over the years. They have even passed alternative minimum tax bills to squeeze out additional tax revenue that would not otherwise be forthcoming. The underlying theory behind the...

In 1944, Martin Crowe, a Catholic priest, wrote a doctoral dissertation titled The Moral Obligation of Paying Just Taxes. His dissertation summarized and analyzed 500 years of theological and philosophical debate on this topic, which identified three basic philosophical positions on the issue....

Despite our founding vision as a land of opportunity, the United States ranks at or near the bottom among high-income countries in economic equality and inter-generational mobility. Our tax code plays a key role. Inherited income is taxed at less than one-seventh the average tax rate on income...

The repeal of the estate tax for one year only in 2010 creates vast uncertainty but also provides an opportunity to reconsider the taxation of million would include in income and pay a 15 percentage point surtax on gifts and bequests. This paper proposes replacing the estate tax with an...