Home
Support TAS
Email Updates
Search

Laissez-faire Capitalism
FAQs
Capitalism - Is it Despicable? -- 7/27/2004
Externalities -- 6/2/2004
Externalities and the Free Rider Problem -- 5/29/2002
Financial Security in a Free Market Society? -- 3/13/2009
Government Financing in a Free Society -- 6/5/2002
Information disclosure under Laissez-faire -- 4/29/2004
Labor Unions -- 6/3/2002
Laissez-faire Capitalism -- 6/5/2002
Poverty, Capitalism, and Class -- 6/19/2009
See all Objectivism Q&A

Reports from the Front
Why Africa Needs Economic Freedom
Edward Hudgins
(2/16/2008)
See all the Reports!


Ask Your Own Question!
We welcome your questions!
Can't find an answer to your question? Click here to ask a question of your own.
See all Objectivism Q&A

Recent Answers to Questions
What is Objectivism?
China, America, and the Future of Liberty
Production of Bads not Goods
Beauty and Moral Judgment
Evasion and Error
Poverty, Capitalism, and Class
Nationalism: will it help a country thrive?
Suicide and Virtue
See all Objectivism Q&A

The Objectivism Store
Browse our full catalog!
Shop today!

Email this to a friend
To:    
From: 
Printer Friendly


Disability

What about taxes to pay for workers who get injured?

Answered by William Thomas

What about workers taking responsibility for their own lives and well-being by either buying insurance, pooling their resources with other workers in, say, a voluntary union, or by refusing to work for firms that do not provide adequate disability insurance?

Objectivism holds that each of us should take responsibility for living an independent life. Other members of society are not responsible for our risky behavior.

Are others morally to blame if you take a dangerous job and fail to take account properly of the risks? No. In fact, others have the moral and political right to live their own lives, for their own sakes.

Taxes to pay the costs of injured workers therefore are a violation of our rights. These taxes are based in a moral view that denies personal responsibility and views man as a sacrificial animal that only exists to serve others.


If you are distributing this piece electronically, the following text must be included after the selection:

Copyright, The Atlas Society.


Home | Support TAS | Contact TAS | Email Updates | Search | Return to Top
The Atlas Society, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 830, Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: (202) AYN-RAND (296-7263) email: tas@atlassociety.org
Copyright 1990-2009, The Atlas Society. All rights reserved.