Dodecanese Dictator Debate No. 1 – Income Tax

DEBATE STRUCTURE Round 1 --------- Pro sets out debate premise and confirms his position Con accepts the opposing position and requests clarifications, suggest amendments, etc. Round 2 --------- Pro submits opening argument Con submits rebuttal and counter argument Round 3 --------- Pro submits rebuttal to Con's counter argument and gives closing argument Con submits rebuttal to Pro's closing argument and gives own closing argument FULL RESOLUTION The burden of tax should fall upon those with the broadest shoulders ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEBATE PREMISE You have amassed a very substantial sum of money as the result of helping a series of corrupt Nigerian generals to transfer their vast fortunes overseas and you decide to use some of the cash to buy your own uninhabited island in Greece's Dodecanese archipelago. The island you choose to buy is called San Antray. Fortunately, your fabulous wealth and Greece's current dire economic straits allow you to go one step further and purchase the island's sovereignty outright from the Greek government and thus enable you to install yourself as the island's rightful dictator. However, there is no point being a ruler with nobody to rule over so you decide to invite people to move to your island and become citizens of San Antray. Now, in order to provide employment for them you decide to develop the island as a tourist resort - with no sales taxes to attract tourists and no corporation tax to attract investors. Before long, a suitable investor by the name of Smashos Nicapos agrees to fund the development of the island and, in return, you grant him the right to keep all the profits that subsequently accrue tax-free. PLAY THE SAN ANTRAY GAME TO SEE HOW THIS MIGHT WORK http://www.viz.co.uk... So, with the financial assistance of your Greek business partner you build an airfield, some villas and hotels, some pubs and clubs, some restaurants and shops, together with a private sexual health clinic. Of course, the citizens of San Antray need places to live, transportation and decent public services so you also build a port, roads, a school and a hospital and to keep law and order and defend San Antray from invasion from the Turks, you also establish an armed militia. Now these public services need to be paid for and with Mr. Nicapos not paying any tax on his profits from the tourist trade you need to raise funds from the citizens by means of an income tax. The only question is: what form of taxation do you employ? For sake of argument, let's use the following figures: ï¿½ Cost per year to run the country: EUR50 million ï¿½ Number of San Antrean taxpayers: 10,000 ï¿½ Average income per taxpayer: EUR30,000 ï¿½ Thus, the total amount earned by all citizens per annum: EUR300 million ï¿½ Therefore, the average tax liability per taxpayer is: EUR5,000 Now, your finance minister informs you that 80% of your citizens work in the leisure and catering industry, which is notoriously badly paid, and they typically earn EUR15,000 a year. Meanwhile the remaining 20% of the population are investment bankers who have relocated to San Antray in order to take advantage of the island's lack of financial regulations and they typically earn EUR90,000 a year. These figures are further described as follows: ï¿½ 80% of the population earn: EUR120 million per annum between them ï¿½ 20% of the population earn: EUR180 million per annum between them For the purposes of this debate, you have two basic choices of income tax: a) An equitable income tax system - since each taxpayer uses public services in equal amounts, they should each pay equal amounts of tax, i.e. EUR5,000 should be collected from each of the 10,000 taxpayers, thus raising the EUR50 million required to run the country - because it is unfair to force the rich to subsidise the poor. b) A percentage-based income tax system - because an equitable tax would result in the poorer 80% of citizens paying 33% of their income in tax while the richer 20% would only be paying 5.5% of their income in tax - so to be fair, income tax should be set at 20% for all taxpayers, which would raise exactly the EUR50 million required to run the country. There are no absolute rights or wrongs in this debate, of course, the winner will be the one who produces the best argument. I intend to take the position of Pro in favour of a percentage-based tax system and affirm that the burden of tax should fall upon those with the broadest shoulders. I hope this will be an enjoyable and enlightening debate and I look forward to welcoming my opponent's acceptance of the position of Con in support of the equitable tax system. Thank you.