The Tax Take: Can tax be both fair and equal?

There is a difference between an equal society and a fair society. All taxation puts someone somewhere at a disadvantage. Modern economies attempt to spread the disadvantages across different sectors of society with different styles of taxes – income tax on wage earners, value-added tax on consumers and so on, in the name of fairness.

This brand of fairness can be overdone. Last week, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan was reported as saying ...