5.7 NDP implies tax choice
If the state cannot discriminate between people, then it cannot choose which services get more funding, choose which industries get support, choose which regions get infrastructure, or choose which priorities matter more. All of those decisions privilege some people’s preferences over others.
So the NDP implies:
That is, the state cannot choose between citizens’ competing priorities without privileging some preferences over others. Because public-service funding is preference-sensitive, the only non-discriminatory source of those preferences is the citizens themselves.
Tax choice isn’t a design preference. It’s a theorem of the NDP.
If the state chooses how tax is allocated, it is privileging some preferences over others. That is discrimination. Therefore the state cannot choose the allocation.
This kills a core function of:
- parliaments
- cabinets
- ministries
- political manifestos
- budget committees
- treasury departments
Once tax choice exists, the main purpose of representative government collapses.