After the Renaissance comes the Enlightenment

After the Renaissance comes the Enlightenment

The European Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement that reached its peak during the 15th and 16th centuries, while the Enlightenment came later, but in reality would not have been possible without the Renaissance.
The Renaissance helped create the ground for the Enlightenment.
Although the Renaissance lasted long enough it did not go beyond limiting the church’s influence in the economy, politics, and society. But what was the main feature of the Renaissance, as a revolutionary period of history, was precisely the wealth that began to influence politics the most, like the Medici family, which amassed large profits and which were used to fund cultural and political activities.
Whereas the Enlightenment focused on the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and defended ideals such as freedom, progress, tolerance, brotherhood, constitutional government, and the separation of church and state. A key feature of the Enlightenment period (also known as the Age of Reason) was the idea of ​​the Social Contract, which holds Rousseau[1] as its main author. In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or model that began during the Enlightenment era and usually deals with the legitimacy of state authority over the individual.

But in its development, there were plenty of additions and interpretations by many prominent philosophers and scientists. One of the most prominent was Hobbes[2], who believed that a social contract was necessary to protect people from their worst instincts.

Hobbes argues in his work for an (almost) absolute political sovereignty and legal authority and respective conviction of citizens created by the implementation of the social contract. For Hobbes, taxes are justified as the price of security. He advocates the tax benefit theory, which is best measured by consumption.

The same goes for Locke[3], although for him the social contract serves to guarantee the property rights of the individual that embody his freedom. Taxes are the price of protecting property rights.

Both Montesquieu[4] and Hume[5] do not need a social contract. The man who lives in society is a fact of life. Their focus is on legitimate government and not on sovereignty and obedience. Hume adheres to the theory of tax benefit, as paying taxes is a contribution to the society on which the individual depends to survive. Montesquieu is a proponent of indirect taxation, although he considers the tax progressive and supports the idea of ​​a living wage that should not be taxed. For him, tax justice is a contextual issue, as taxes must be related to a certain form of government.

Rousseau radicalizes the notion of the social contract, which is a means to protect equal freedom for all. It transposes the new ideal of tax equality, which will not only enable the government to protect its citizens, but also take into account their existence.

Taxes should increase freedom and equality (tax justice). Thus, progressive taxation based on the ability to pay is put on the agenda of the Enlightenment.
Russo’s popular sovereignty was self-evident to many of the proponents of that historical period, but like other theorists, they treated taxation from their politico-philosophical point of view.

Although the Enlightenment has been closed for 2 centuries as a glorious era of history, it is worth saying how the ideas of progressiveness in taxation and the idea of ​​tax justice are already applied in the same terms, but in completely different circumstances and historical environment.

If you analyze the current tax system of our country, it may seem at first glance that the principles of the Enlightenment taxation are being applied. In fact, these principles have been applied in part only to labor and a narrow segment of capital. This situation has already distorted the principle of tax justice for 7-8 years and in some studies we have proven that the principle of progressivity does not work in a large part of it. This approach to a more in-depth analysis of the tax system is more like the European Renaissance period, where the desire to overthrow and revolutionize many aspects of life and society in the end was not enough time to close and successfully complete what started in the beginning. own and with a lot of energy and passion. This was one of the reasons why history brought to the fore exactly those who were called Enlightenment and who built the values ​​of the liberal system and the tax model that is applied with the improvements of the time in many other countries.

The main difference between the implementation in many successful countries in building the tax system with the aim that they are trying to implement in Albania is the lack of building a comprehensive tax system, step by step and based on the consensus of the whole policy.

The tax system in “small” Albania has become even more complex since the early 1990s until today, and tax legislation is one of the most unstable in the region. In these conditions, even if we wanted to go back to the first years of tax legislation, it would not be at all easy to completely erase the existing tax structure and replace it with something completely new. Innovation although it remains possible, due to the existing complexity, is best introduced by gradual implementation in accordance with a basic policy or principle, which are the basis of the model of how individuals and businesses can be taxed, but also labor and capital.

The current principle of tax justice in fiscal governance is not relying on the distribution of the tax burden. The emphasis seems to be shifting from the basis of political authority over the free will of taxpayers, to the most basic precondition, that of legitimate governance for taxpayers and by taxpayers.

Why?

Legitimate governance must be able to protect and improve individual freedom and equality. This development clears the way for a tax justice-based tax system approach, going beyond the distribution of the tax burden based on the benefits that guarantee the government expenditure budget. As the principles of equality or justice come to the fore as preconditions for any sustainable political society, taxes become instrumental to social justice.

The principle of benefit has reached its peak and the principle of ability to pay as well, embodying the concept of tax justice, through the fair distribution of the tax burden are that historical period that can also be called the modern Enlightenment, which will not knock, but it will take time to get on stage. And here we are not just talking about the Albanian scene. The history of at least the Balkan states is a common history.

However, it will be a long, long, and long way to go towards legitimate governance, towards a just, inclusive political society with a tax system that belongs to taxpayers and not governments.

[1] Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought.
[2] Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, theology, and ethics, as well as philosophy in general.
[3] John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism”.
[4] Montesquieu was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.
[5] David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, scepticism, and naturalism.

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