What Is Fair?

President Obama says he want to make society more fair. Advocates of big government believe fairness means taking from rich people and giving to others: poor people; or people who do things politicians approve of, like making “green” energy equipment (Solyndra); or old people (even rich ones) through Social Security and Medicare.

The idea that government can “make life fair” is intuitively appealing to people — at least until they think about it. I’ll try to help.

Obama says fairness requires higher taxes, but as The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore asks, “Is it fair that the richest 10 percent of Americans shoulder a higher share of their country’s income-tax burden than do the richest 10 percent in every other industrialized nation, including socialist Sweden?”

Or as economist Art Laffer asked, is it fair that American corporations pay the highest corporate tax rate in the world?

Beyond taxes, again quoting Moore, “Is it fair that President Obama sends his two daughters to elite private schools that are safer, better-run and produce higher test scores than public schools in Washington, D.C. — but millions of other families across America are denied that free choice and forced to send their kids to rotten schools?”

No. Parents ought to be able to spend their education money at any school they choose. Big-government politicians bemoan income inequality, but would equalizing incomes make life fair?

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