Does the Federation tax?

[Nyotarules]

Joe pays tax to nation state, nation state pays tax to United Earth, United Earth pay tax to Federation...

 

[Paradise City]

Well, they left the nuts and bolts of a no-money society vague because they wouldn't let a thing like the mechanics of it distract from what sounds cool and utopian as we see with Picard channeling the so-called "Roddenberry vision" in The Neutral Zone episode. I just don't see the Federation running around hassling ' people over tax. Seems a bit of a damp squib on an otherwise enlightened society.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Well, they left the nuts and bolts of a no-money society vague because they wouldn't let a thing like the mechanics of it distract from what sounds cool and utopian as we see with Picard channeling the so-called "Roddenberry vision" in The Neutral Zone episode. I just don't see the Federation running around hassling ' people over tax. Seems a bit of a damp squib on an otherwise enlightened society.

Perhaps, but a intra-galactic union would need to have some mechanism for offsetting surpluses and deficiencies, as well as collecting the resources needed to fund Starfleet and the giant bureaucracies that run the Federation.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I assume member worlds still tax their populaces. But does the Federation tax?

You know, I can't remember taxes of ANY kind ever being mentioned in any show. Maybe in a time travel ep but by people in the past at some time, but nothing in the Federation. Are there any taxes at all, Fed or member world? If not, how is anything run? No budgets? Departments just run by instantly doing anything they need to do at no charge?

And what about the Cardassian Union, Romulan Empire, Klingon Empire--do they tax?

I guess this is the whole money question from a different angle.

Since the Federation is a post-scarcity society, I'd find it unusual if they did. They also don't use currency among themselves -- IIRC, currency is generally used with other species that still use it, such as the Ferengi on Deep Space 9. So, strictly within the context of Terrans interacting with Terrans, Vulcans with Vulcans, or even Terrans with Vulcans, I'm not sure what they would tax or how. It seems like the Federation is a kind of post-scarcity communism, where all needs and desires are met. Which is why people do what they want just to better themselves -- I think that point is discussed pretty well in TNG S1 E26 "The Neutral Zone."

There are probably people on here who are far more knowledgeable than I am about these issues though, so on any of these points I'm happy to be corrected. In any case, sounds like bad news for a lowly bookkeeper such as myself.

 

[Arpy]

(Edited my earlier post.)

Balok's Decoy, what is it they say about the service economy creating more jobs for every one lost in the manufacturing one? I suspect there may be more things for a bookkeeper to do than is immediately obvious. Everything may be free, bit it still needs to be tracked. Business with thousands of alien cultures, each with their own alien economies, probably requires immense amounts of negotiation and accounting. There may be weird multiple economies running at the same time within Federation worlds too -- the future is likely to be more complex and filled with unknowns. Computers will make much more of our existences quantifiable. What if there are whole fields created to measure and manage and manipulate that new information?

 

[Balok's Decoy]

(Edited my earlier post.)

Balok's Decoy, what is it they say about the service economy creating more jobs for every one lost in the manufacturing one? I suspect there may be more things for a bookkeeper to do than is immediately obvious. Everything may be free, bit it still needs to be tracked. Business with thousands of alien cultures, each with their own alien economies, probably requires immense amounts of negotiation and accounting. There may be weird multiple economies running at the same time within Federation worlds too -- the future is likely to be more complex and filled with unknowns. Computers will make much more of our existences quantifiable. What if there are whole fields created to measure and manage and manipulate that new information?

Haha that is encouraging! You're right -- accounting will still exist, but I think it will probably be more about resource allocation, tracking, and monitoring energy expenditure of replicators and whatnot. There's hope for me yet.

 

[Tenacity]

non materialistic society

But that doesn't acurately describe it either, they have personal ownership of land, houses, starships. Whatever their society is, it isn't "non-materialistic."

 

[Vandervecken]

Joe pays tax to nation state, nation state pays tax to United Earth, United Earth pay tax to Federation...

Ohhh...that could be. As long as there is wealth to create and take.

So the Federation DOES take a piece of the action!

 

[Nightdiamond]

The Federation and how it deals with money is completely weird.

I found this;
QUARK: You call that a reform? Taxes go against the very spirit of free enterprise. That's why they call it free.

BRUNT: The government needed revenues to fund the new social programs. Wage subsidies for the poor, retirement benefits for the aged, health care for .....

QUARK: Stop, stop, stop! ------Whatever happened to survival of the fittest? Whatever happened to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? Whatever happened to pure, unadulterated greed?

BRUNT: Things change.

QUARK: And they're going to change back. The first thing I'm going to do is eliminate these so called reforms, before Ferenginar ends up looking like a Federation planet.

I don't know what that means. The Federation does tax?

This is from another episode;
ARISSA: It's not like a Federation world where everything is handed to you.

There we go again, everything is free in the Federation. Likely courtesy of the replicator.

Everyone works to better themselves and humanity- a reference to taxes or just to contribute to the rest of humanity?