notice why tax is important and hard

[maxheld83]

it is an important topic, because everyone is affected, yet few people know about it. At the same time, it is hard, because it is very broad. It is the social contract, which is great, but also makes it near impossible to talk about any one detail in isolation.

For example, consider that taxation, by definition, assumes that there is some pre-tax, free market income, which people have some right to. Taxation is the obligation that arises as a part of that "pre-social" income. (That's the foundationalist view, btw, but entirely without, tax and especially its economics do not make much sense). But then there's the myth of ownership view, which rightfully points out that there is no such meaningful thing as pre-social property.

So we're turning in circles, and any deliberation is likely going to be quite ... chaotic and frustrating.

That's why we need a very tight circle, in this case: base and schedule

[maxheld83]

It's a good case:

• mismatch between relevance and understanding
• High complexity, non-local – can deliberative democracy do that?

It's more than a case:

• "last best hope for progressivity" (mcCaffery 2002: 197)
• systematic biases in tax (mcCaffery and baron 2005)