Feature Essay: Bootleggers, Baptists, and the Search for Fairness

How siren songs of fairness invite bootlegger mischief

Over the last few weeks we have seen repeated references to fairness as the cardinal justification for imposing new rules on American businesses. Recently, for example, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a celebratory London press conference announcing that 130 nations had met and agreed to impose a minimum 15 percent corporate income tax.[1] This, sh…