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The moral force of the benefit principle

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  • Voyiakis, Emmanuel

Abstract

What gives the benefit principle its moral appeal as an idea of tax justice? And what can count as a benefit for that purpose? My claim is that we can trace the moral force of various versions of the principle to five ideas: individual justification, causal feedback, reciprocity, opposable valuation and non-objectionable baseline. I develop those ideas into an account of the moral permissibility of benefit-based taxation, and explain how that account addresses problems about the quantification and valuation of benefits and the relationship between benefit and the justice of the background distribution.

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  • Voyiakis, Emmanuel, 2025. "The moral force of the benefit principle," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 127293, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:127293
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/127293/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert Scherf & Matthew Weinzierl, 2020. "Understanding Different Approaches to Benefit‐Based Taxation," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 385-410, June.
    2. Denvil Duncan & John Graham & Venkata Nadella & Ashley Bowers & Stacey Giroux, 2014. "Demand for Benefit Taxation: Evidence From Public Opinion on Road Financing," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 120-142, December.
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    4. Coleman, Jules L., 2002. "Markets, Morals, and the Law," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199253609.
    5. Matthew Weinzierl, 2018. "Revisiting the Classical View of Benefit‐based Taxation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 37-64, July.
    6. Wolfgang Buchholz & Wolfgang Peters, 2007. "Justifying the Lindahl solution as an outcome of fair cooperation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 157-169, October.
    7. Hines Jr., James R., 2000. "What is benefit taxation?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 483-492, March.
    8. Moulin, Herve, 1987. "Egalitarian-Equivalent Cost Sharing of a Public Good," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(4), pages 963-976, July.
    9. Weinzierl, Matthew, 2017. "Popular acceptance of inequality due to innate brute luck and support for classical benefit-based taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 54-63.
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    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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