"[T]he way the property tax works is that the share collected by a district is to be used by that district. Among the property taxes assessed in Seoul for this year, the difference between the highest, the Gangnam district, and the lowest was a factor of about 15. Within such a structure, the kindergartens, schools and public health centers in a neighborhood are inevitably better the higher the land and housing values.

This calls to mind the group Responsible Wealth, which was one of the most vociferous opponents of former U.S. President George W. Bush’s push to abolish the inheritance tax. Its members included some of the wealthiest people in the world [...] In other words, a group of billionaires got together to cry, 'Don’t create a new tax system to benefit us.' It is of course important to donate the money you earn to good causes, but is this not a more fundamental form of noblesse oblige?"

Read the full article online in The Hankyoreh.