THBT A CITIZEN CAN STOP PAYING TAXES IF THEY ARE NOT

HAPPY WITH THE PUBLIC SERVICES

PROPOSITION

Define the policy as a mechanism (policy statement) the govt will establish a
regulatory body that will determine whether the services provided by the govt are
efficient or not (maybe by coming up with a quality standard with a rating & each
public institution has to comply with this rating and standards set by the regulatory
body). Only if the services are inefficient and are of low quality, then the citizens will
need not pay any taxes.

There will be a proper procedural framework to determine whether taxes should be

paid for the provided services. Like if a person is dissatisfied with the quality of the
services- then don’t need to pay

Reasons

1. Govt will be encouraged to improve the efficiency of public services, improve

better quality, be more accountable when providing services to the public,
minimize corruption in the public sector, reduce misappropriation of
resources…etc.
2. Public institutions will have to generate their own money and not depend on
tax revenue, which is a burden to citizens.

3. Theoretical basis/reason for coming up with this policy - Tax choice/sovereignty

argument- In public choice theory, tax choice is the belief that individual taxpayers
should have direct control over how their taxes are spent. They claim taxpayers react
positively when they are allowed to allocate portions of their taxes to specific spending
and that they’re being guaranteed that their tax money is being utilized in a manner
that will eventually benefit them.
Pres. George W. Bush- Taxpayers should be able to designate how their tax dollars
are spent.

Voluntary taxation argument- A person should get to choose where your money goes
instead of giving it and just letting them decide, I think you should decide. Taxpayers
should have the right or at least the option to decide how to utilize their tax money.

 people should not be compelled to pay their taxes through actual enforcement
actions by the state, but rather by their own free will and choice, depending solely on
their satisfaction with the provision of public services by the state.
 benefits of tax dollars are highly diffuse and abstract. Many benefits are never directly
seen by the individual taxpayer. So with taxes, one of the things that usually motivates
people to open their wallets is notably absent: At the time of payment, we don’t see what
we’re getting in return, and certain public services aren’t available equally to all people at
the same time.

People are most of the time, fooled by the govt into paying taxes with the false hope
they will get efficient and useful public services in return.

Generally in a transaction what happens is that u pay something and it’s guaranteed
that u’ll get something of equal value in return. However, when paying taxes the public
are unaware for

4. Social contract argument-

One way to present this idea of sovereignty as a locus of collective self-determination is

through the artifact of the social contract. Under the social contract, people endow the
state with the exclusive power to coerce them, and exchange some of their
independence for membership in the political system. Thus, the power to coerce the
people for the people inherently entails major limitations. Key among these limitations,
and the one I am going to focus on here, is the duty of justice the state owes its
constituents.

5. Inequalities between the different groups of Social strata argument - public services are
accessible by all members of the public. But not everyone uses it, specifically the rich
elites. Becuz they have the choice of either using public services or going with more
expensive and efficient private services. This choice isn’t available to those coming from
the middle class or lower, they have to use public services despite their efficiency or
usefulness, becuz they have no choice. Therefore, a person’s access to public services
shouldn’t depend on their income and tax base, but rather their own liberty or
preference depending on their satisfaction or happiness with the state of the public
services. Thus, the public should be given the choice of when to pay taxes and when not
to (they should have the power/right to determine how they’re tax dollars are being
utilized)
6. This policy will encourage the govt to provide more efficient and effective public
services in order to gain taxes from the taxpayers—in that the tax payers will receive
services
7. Govt has an obligation to generate their own revenue through effective provision of
public goods & services rather than depending on the tax money, which is the private
income of citizens, & which is also a burden to citizens.—
8. Govt will then be encouraged to improve the efficiency of public services,
improve better quality, be more accountable when providing services to the
public, minimize corruption in the public sector, reduce misappropriation of
resources…etc.

Will motivate the govt to come up with new solutions to generate revenue (eg: getting
an income from effective provision of public services with reasonable and economical
fees), rather than constantly depending on collecting a proportion of citizens’ private
income. So that the same cash flow will be circulating throughout the economy and to
prevent that.
1. Govt will be encouraged to improve the efficiency of public services, improve
better quality, be more accountable when providing services to the public,
minimize corruption in the public sector, reduce misappropriation of
resources…etc.
2. Public institutions will have to generate their own money and not depend on
tax revenue, which is a burden to citizens.

OPPOSITION

1. Arbitrary policy-
2. Consequences of such a movement- how can the govt fund their many expenses…
without taxes a govt can’t run properly… (eg: SL’s tax policy by the Gota govt- they
reduced taxes and the whole economy collapsed). The govt can’t come up with such
arbitrary policies which will ultimately harm the economy of the country.

Rebuttal points-

1. People are given greater power in determining economic policies of the govt/people
can fraudulently claim that they’re dissatisfied with public services-
 Power isn’t given to the people…the regulatory body is the one that determines
whether the public institutions are providing a proper service according to the
proper standard. I.e. it’s up to the regulator to determine whether they’re
accurate or not.
2. Will encourage accountability, Govt will be encouraged to improve the efficiency of
public services, improve better quality, be more accountable when providing services
to the public, minimize corruption in the public sector, reduce misappropriation of
resources…etc.
3.

If the state doesn’t provide proper services, then people are justified in paying
Accountability, state is compelled to eradicate corruption and increase efficiency and
accountable on what they’re doing with the taxes.

A person’s happiness is subjective, depends on the person’s income, social status, access
to public services…etc.
so it can’t be specifically determined that one person’s access to certain public
services would be the same as another’s.
People can fake their preferences- one can lie and say that they’re unsatisfied with the
public services in order to avoid paying taxes

Everyone has a legal duty to pay taxes, people can complain about public services
while benefitting from them at the same time.

Not fair for one section of the public to pay taxes and others not to, even though all
members receive the same access to the same public services.

1. A govt mainly depends on tax rev so what happens if that rev is not being received
(or if it’s not enough to fund govt expenditure) due to this policy?

A govt doesn’t depend solely on tax revenue, but also non-tax revenue such as Interest
Receipts, Dividends and Profits from public sector enterprises. The reason why
generally most govts even have to consider on tax rev is becuz their not earning
sufficient revenue from the public services that they have provided. If countries are
providing their services in an efficient and effective manner, they don’t even need to
rely on taxing the citizens.

Types of non-tax revenue- Interest Receipts, Dividends and Profits. Apart from receipts
on account of interest on loans by the Central Government, this Section comprises
 dividends and profits from public sector enterprises. It also includes surplus profits of
the Reserve Bank of India, transferred to the Government. non-tax revenue instruments,
from levies on natural resource extraction to pollution fees. Non-tax revenue
instruments are much more varied than tax instruments. They include royalties, fees for
mining rights, dividends on government investments in state-owned enterprises and in
stock portfolios, sovereign wealth funds and government shares in joint ventures with
private operators.

Reasons for depending on non-tax rev. as opposed to tax revenue- Non-tax revenue can
address some of the structural challenges in revenue collection. For example, most of
the practical problems involved in taxing the informal economy do not affect non-tax
revenue collection. Non-tax revenue can be collected as readily from economic agents in
the informal sector as from those in the formal sector. For instance, user charges (such
as for health and

 Rebut and break the opposing team’s arguments

 Tell & prove my arguments by comparing them with the opposing team’s arguments
 Point out why my team must win this debate
 Note down the arguments from all opposing team’s speakers & rebut them