Publication Date
7-1-2024
Abstract
In the State of Alaska there is no state income tax. Instead, there is a negative tex: every year every resident gets some money from the state. At present, every resident -- from the poorest to the richest -- gets the exact same amount of money: in 2024, it is expected to be around $1500. A natural question is: Is this fair? Maybe poor people should get more since their needs are greater? Maybe the rich people should get proportionally more, since fairness means equal added happiness for all, and for rich people, extra $1500 is barely noticeable? There have been many ethical discussions about this. In this paper, we analyze the problem from the mathematical viewpoint, and we show that the current arrangement, while not exactly the most fair, is close to the fair one -- at least much closer to fairness than the alternative proportional arrangement.
Comments
Technical Report: UTEP-CS-24-37