ArticleThere’s a new pandemic taking our country by storm. You’ve probably never heard of it, but we all seem to have a chronic case. Forosophobia is an irrational fear of taxes. It describes all that you would expect – anxiety, dread, and a visceral aversion to even the prospect of governments taking your money.
If the only two things we can be certain of are death and taxes, a quick glance at public sentiment and media coverage strongly suggests that most of us would prefer the former. Five weeks after the federal budget, many of us are running for the hills – on changes to negative gearing, capital gains, trusts, and the rest. As former state premiers (and political opponents) Mike Baird and Anna Bligh jointly wrote last week, our debate is “collapsing into the same political theatre that has wrecked every reform attempt for 25 years.”
As workers, employers, investors, shareholders, trustees, inheritors and capital gainers – and perhaps just by virtue of being human – we hate tax. And understandably so. After all, who wants to pay more tax, or any tax for that matter? Someone else taking money that you work for and then spending it on things you disagree with? No thanks! It’s impressive that we’ve kept forosophobia off the Medicare Benefits Schedule as a listed condition.
Perhaps it’s because our anti-tax pathology infects all of us most of the time, or most of us all of the time. Those on the left hate consumption taxes, calling them regressive. Those on the right hate taxes on capital and corporate profits, calling them attacks on aspiration. And everyone hates income taxes. Not wanting our stuff taken from us is natural. Parents know the jarring moment when your hitherto perfect, angelic toddler first screeches, “Mine!”
Perhaps forosophobia is incurable. If that’s true, then, like other chronic conditions, we need to find a way to live with it.
American Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. declared that “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society.” He’s not wrong. Decent roads, schools, hospitals, water, parks and playgrounds tend to go hand in hand with social cohesion and quality of life. However, only ever seeing taxes as a “price to pay” for something plays into a transactional mindset that sees human interaction as valid only insofar as it’s reciprocal.
Viewing tax policy only through individual eyes – and bank accounts – atomises us. Of course, it reflects part of what matters, but it misses something. It negates the reality that nation-building is a team sport.
What if we thought about tax non-transactionally? What if tax was seen as a practical outworking of the commitment that we have to one another? Award-winning author Marilynne Robinson suggests that we should not think of ourselves as mere taxpayers, but as citizens. Could a team-centred mindset be a form of therapy for keeping the worst symptoms of forosophobia from flaring up?
Cohesive societies rely on a healthy combination of contribution and compassion. We put in the hard yards. And we lean on each other when we need help. In a sense, we are all lifters and leaners. But the phrase works better if we think of lifting as holding each other up, and leaning as receiving help when we need it.
Referring to the ancient Christian virtue of charity, Mother Teresa remarked, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Her words are noteworthy.
But as taxpayers, we can do more. Together we can help millions. Moreover, we can take care of each other.
My wife recently underwent emergency surgery. She was operated on within 60 minutes of being diagnosed. Her treatment involved consultations with general physicians and various specialists, constant monitoring by nurses, and an overnight hospital stay. And it didn’t cost us a cent. It was paid for by others. Taxpayers. Our fellow citizens. Of course, that day I was grateful for access to world-class healthcare. But when we thought about it as a collective gift from our fellow citizens, our gratitude became something richer, something better. And it offered a helpful counterpoint to the transactional thinking that engulfs our modern world.
We should, of course, aspire to a system that fairly balances the ideals of aspiration, fairness, opportunity and reward, but our tax and transfer system will always be imperfect and frustrating. We will always find things to be upset about. But tax can be understood as more than governments picking our pockets. It can also be seen as evidence of a society in which people have each other’s backs.
Max Jeganathan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. He served as an adviser in the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, and is undertaking a PhD in law on the ethical foundations of liberalism. This article was first published in Eureka Street.