From Free Association (www.sheldonrichman.com): Why do economists, even those who favor the free market, call what the market process does "rationing." When...
I think I agree with ecnal here. Dan makes some good points and I have mixed feelings because I hate to see tax revenues increased, but churches left and...
... I agree with you that most big churches are statist in most respects, and many are statist in most respects. But I don't think that their having bad...
... The whole thing is a dilemma. But yes fairness requires that all people be treated equally. The thing is, churches don't oppose the state, they support it....
... It's clear that equal treatment is a necessary condition of fairness. I don't think it's a sufficient condition. And I think if your view is that fairness...
... Well, I'm certainly not advocating that if Smith is robbed the whole town must be robbed too in order to serve justice. I'm saying that in the current...
A side point: Are you sure all churches or church members advocate statism? That seems a sweeping generalization -- like all <insert members of ethnic group...
Supporting the "tax exempt" status of churches is akin to supporting progressive taxation in which the top tax brackets assume more and more responsibility for...
Every major denomination (Episcopal, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in...
Maybe "tax exempt" is a poor way of thinking about the status of religious organizations, since it suggests that the state has a proper relationship to...
I don't know if that's true, but let's say it is. What about the minor denominations? What about the local church or tent meet? Are you sure about each one of...
How would taxing them would make them subject ot market forces? Shouldn't the analysis be, rather, that all other organizations that are not tax-exempt are...
I'm not sure how that could be read into Charles' comments. I don't think he's advocating something like "churches should be tax-exempt, but not laundrettes,...
... As you please, but I don't think that the just response to a progressive tax structure is to tax poor people *more*, so as to make tax brackets more equal....
... It doesn't. But the reason that it doesn't is not because of the fact that it does not tax them. It's because it imposes some fairly burly paperwork and...
"Every major denomination (Episcopal, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church...
I'm all for eliminating taxation altogether, but until then I'm not sure that libertarians can accept the selective taxation by the state. Thanks to the whim...
I'm not sure that it's helpful to use an individual rapist as an analogy for the state, since the state is so much more comprehensive and monopolistic. Think...
... Yes. The fewer people pay taxes, the fewer people are being robbed. The fewer people are being robbed, ceteris paribus, the better. ... If most of the...
... Fairness is an absolute impossibility so long as there is a state. So long as there is a very big state, systematic and incredible unfairness is an ...
... As you please, but I don't see how either the comprehensive nature or the monopoly nature of the state relevantly affects the analogy I was making about...
Fairness would also dictate that since the U.S. murdered a million Iraqis, it should also murder a million Iranians. Actually, it would mean that since some...
Or since the state selectively murders people, perhaps what enal37 should advocate, to be fair, is that the state murder everyone??? Regards, Dan From: Anthony...
There is a limit to the logical value of analogies and I think Charles and Anthony have passed that limit some while back in this discussion. Jim Sent on the...
Oh, you beat me to that analogy! How unfair! I suspect state privilege is behind this! :) Regards, Dan From: Anthony Gregory <anthony.gregory@...> To:...
... Why's that? If, as a matter of principle, oppression should be "fair," what's the flaw in our analogies? I think the real limit in logic is to the idea...
I agree that there is a limit to the value of analogies (what is meant by "logical value"? as compared to what other sort? illogical?), but I'm not sure you've...
... Jim, The limits are the limits at which relevant disanalogies can be pointed out between the supposedly analogous cases, which would tend to undermine the...
I'm by no means a consequentialists (and believe to have a deep understanding of consequentialism anyhow), but if the fairness as they apply it leads to...
