The benefit and sacrifice principles of taxation: A synthesis

Abstract

The implications of equal sacrifice taxation have only been pursued in a very narrow context. This note applies this principle to the problem of levying taxes to provide public goods. Its purpose is to determine how taxes used to finance public goods must be structured in order to benefit each agent equally. This tax structure may be viewed as a benchmark against which to compare tax regimes with redistributive intent. Equality of taxation, therefore, as a maxim of politics, means equality of sacrifice . . . This standard, like other standards of perfection, cannot be com- pletely realized; but the first object in every practical discussion should be to know what perfection is. J. S. Mill