Tax Fairness. Should Particularistic Approaches Matter?

Abstract

Indirect taxes have been criticized as regressive and unfair. When applied to proportional consumption taxes critics claim that there is an unfair distribution of burdens asking too much from the least advantaged and failing to ask more from those who are able to pay more. However, there is a view that rejects any evaluation of particular institutions in terms of fairness or unfairness unless global effects of the whole institutional system are taken into account. This paper criticizes consumption taxes that apply a flat rate (proportional) on two grounds. An internal objection will allow us to clarify why taxes on consumption do not necessarily have to be proportional to treat citizens equitably, but also to reject the idea that indirect taxation is unfair. An external objection discusses the thesis that evaluation of tax institutions must take into account the general effects of the institutional structure as a whole. This paper affirms that sometimes principles of tax justice must appeal to considerations exclusively related to the redistribution of tax burdens

Keywords

• impuestos indirectos
• tributos
• justicia social
• equidad tributaria