Thursday, 5 March 2009

Moral Taxation

The argument of where the social responsibility falls with regards to ethics is an interesting question. Is the consumer always at fault for consuming excessively and not managing his greed, is the manufacturer at fault for not going against the grain and working to more responsible standards or is the government at fault for making it too easy to exploit and waste whilst indulging big business. The governments relationship to big companies is always scrutinised but perhaps more now in these harder financial times. On www.socialresponsibility.com it states that the argument against companies being responsible is “should [organisations] shoulder those costs on behalf of society?”
I feel that in the end government must take responsibility for finding more effective ways of encouraging responsible business practices that benefit all communities involved and remove some of the power from big companies. So by looking at taxation on products that are produced further away that could be produced locally, or likewise on lower taxes for ethically strong products (fairtrade for example which already has a full system in place). It would take some restructuring but could bring about a greater sense of community, reduce emissions and promote jobs in local areas. The downsides are of course just as numerous, such as the loss of the global village and even a return to elitist society. I would be interested to further explore the responsibility in society for ethical practices and how accountable government is and should be.


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