I think it would be helpful to be more specific about what you’re trying to determine.
For instance, “what percentage of income should go to the government (assuming a social context where that even makes sense)” is, from a consequentialist perspective, a question that ought be decomposed. Any given program might or might not produce additional value over the marginal cost of raising the money for it, depending on the details. So maybe you want to ask questions like “what is the marginal elasticity of labor [at various incomes and social contexts]” and “what is the marginal effect of income on [happiness or whatever you care about] [at various incomes and social contexts, blah blah blah]” so that you’re better-equipped to make cost-benefit analyses of various programs, and so on. As it happens those questions are of course totally politicized, but it’s better to know that they’re the actual questions you’re looking for (if they are.)
You might be asking something quite different from this, but if you are, it should be decomposable, or at least made more precise, as well.
I think it would be helpful to be more specific about what you’re trying to determine.
For instance, “what percentage of income should go to the government (assuming a social context where that even makes sense)” is, from a consequentialist perspective, a question that ought be decomposed. Any given program might or might not produce additional value over the marginal cost of raising the money for it, depending on the details. So maybe you want to ask questions like “what is the marginal elasticity of labor [at various incomes and social contexts]” and “what is the marginal effect of income on [happiness or whatever you care about] [at various incomes and social contexts, blah blah blah]” so that you’re better-equipped to make cost-benefit analyses of various programs, and so on. As it happens those questions are of course totally politicized, but it’s better to know that they’re the actual questions you’re looking for (if they are.)
You might be asking something quite different from this, but if you are, it should be decomposable, or at least made more precise, as well.