Equality Under the Law
April 27th 2009 00:53
One of the main components of a liberal democracy is rule of law. A government must be able to enforce the law in order to maintain order within its borders. However, a more controversial but extremely important concept of rule of law is the notion of "equality under the law," or legal egalitarianism. America and France were the birthplace of this concept. As this goes, a free society cannot truly be free if the law is used to coerce people into material equality; thus, they must be allowed legal equality, even though this will inevitably lead to material inequality.
One of the places where equality under law is absent would be tax law. Based on your income (or other forms of wealth), you can be taxed more than someone less "well off" than you. Why are taxes an acceptable area to have inequality under the law? Should free speech not be the same for the rich? Should the rich not have a right to a fair trial? Why do laws against theft count for others trying to steal from the rich (unless of course that other is the government)?
The main questions that need to be answered are a.) Does redistribution of income create a net benefit to society? and b.) Regardless of the benefits, should redistribution of income be a legitimate facet of a free society?
One of the places where equality under law is absent would be tax law. Based on your income (or other forms of wealth), you can be taxed more than someone less "well off" than you. Why are taxes an acceptable area to have inequality under the law? Should free speech not be the same for the rich? Should the rich not have a right to a fair trial? Why do laws against theft count for others trying to steal from the rich (unless of course that other is the government)?
The main questions that need to be answered are a.) Does redistribution of income create a net benefit to society? and b.) Regardless of the benefits, should redistribution of income be a legitimate facet of a free society?
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