This book examines the justification for taxation and identifies the ethical tax issues. It also provides a blueprint for tax reform and advises on tax policy. At one end of the spectrum, any tax legislation is legitimate if the country has a democratic system of government because the peoples’ representatives have voted for it. At the other end of the spectrum, no tax can be justified on philosophical grounds because all governments are bands of thieves. A middle position is that taxation can generally be justified, but that some taxes are better than others, either from a utilitarian or deontological perspective. If a tax that is transparent and visible is better than a tax that is obscure or hidden, why are so many taxes obscure or hidden? There is a general belief that everyone must pay their “fair share” of taxes, but the term “fair share” is conveniently undefinable. Is a graduated income tax morally justifiable, or would some other approach be better? Could/should the income tax be replaced with a consumption tax, or should a consumption tax be viewed as a supplement to an income tax? Should the purpose of taxation be to raise revenue, or should the tax system also be used to alter behavior by taxing “bad” things like alcohol and tobacco products or subsidizing green energy initiatives? This book explores some of these questions.

Robert W. McGee is a Professor of Accounting in the Broadwell College of Business and Economics at Fayetteville State University, USA. He is an attorney and CPA (retired) and has earned 23 academic degrees, including 13 doctorates from universities in the USA and four European Countries. He has published more than 60 books, including several novels, and more than 1200 articles, book chapters, conference papers and working papers. He founded the Journal of Accounting, Ethics and Public Policy. Various studies have ranked him #1 researcher in the World for tax evasion, accounting ethics and business ethics scholarship. He is also ranked in the top 10 worldwide in terms of research impact in economics. He drafted the accounting law for Armenia and Bosnia and reviewed the accounting law for Mozambique. He was also in charge of assisting the Finance Ministries of Armenia and Bosnia in converting their countries to International Financial Reporting Standards.