The State and Your Hard-Earned Money

How fiscal and economic policy choices reflect moral points of view

How much of your hard-earned money is it fair for the state to tax? What public services should the state finance with that money? Surveys show that people care more about fairness than efficiency in fiscal and economic matters, and that they are increasingly anxious about inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunities. It’s clear that the choices made by policymakers about who benefits from a given economic policy are also moral choices. In this book, economist Paolo Mauro looks at the interplay between moral perspectives and policy decisions. After analyzing how the role of the state has evolved in response to economic transformations and changing notions of good government, he traces the rising gap between actual practice and what citizens consider to be fair taxation and public service provision policies.

Mauro connects fiscal policy trends to insights from other fields, including ideas from moral philosophy, social science surveys on attitudes toward taxation and public services, and studies of corruption. He offers a concise but compelling overview of philosophy relevant to fiscal issues; considers how people perceive inequalities; traces the moral choices made by states as they develop new policies on taxation and spending; and looks at opportunities and incentives for malfeasance within the system. Building on this, Mauro calls for policymakers to engage with a wider range of moral viewpoints. If we are open to ideas from a variety of disciplines, he argues, we can chart a path for fiscal policies that will help preserve democracy, combat inequality, and promote social cohesion.