Difference Principle, Democratic Equality, and Mutual Support by Taxation

:A plan for the ‘capability-providing’ society

Abstract

Confronting a host of difficult issues of widening disparities which emerge within domestic and international affairs, I attempt in this paper to flesh out the conception of a just and caring society by considering appropriate conditions for the taxation system thereof.
For this purpose I conjointly apply two methodologies: reflective equilibrium (Rawls) and ‘dis-aggregation’ (attributed to Sen by Yoichi Mine). Firstly I examine three joint ideas bridging a gap between difference and equality in Rawlsian social justice; (1) fraternity, (2) reciprocity, and (3) democracy. Then I dig into Rawls' and Kant's theories of taxation in some detail and propose a way of reinterpreting the Rawlsian concerns with justice in terms of Sen's notion of capabilities. (In this regard Makoto Yuasa's Japanese translation of ‘capability’ as ‘tame’ is highly suggestive.) The classical ideal of fraternity proves in need of careful elaboration.