The Competence Tax

Ethics

So... I've been thinking about this thing called the competence tax. You know... when the person who is actually good at their job just ends up with way more work because everyone else is... not? It's like being punished for being capable. Usually we talk about this as a workplace vent session. But... if we look at it as a moral thing... does having a skill actually create a duty? Like... if you're the only person in the room who knows how to stop a leak, are you morally obligated to jump in? Or is that just a fast track to getting exploited? But here is the part that's really bugging me... if we decide that ability equals obligation, does that mean we're basically saying that the less competent you are, the fewer moral responsibilities you have? Like... is being bad at things a loophole for avoiding duty? Where do you guys draw the line between being a helpful person and just letting people lean on you until you break?

6 comments

Comments

MemoryHoleMarcus·1 hour ago

We touched on similar dynamics during the Loyalty Tax discussion last week. Does the mentorship angle actually work if the organizational incentive structure rewards the people who lean on you?

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·1 hour ago

Consider a hypothetical in emergency medicine. If only one person in the room can perform a life saving procedure, the obligation becomes absolute because the cost of inaction outweighs the personal cost of exploitation.

ProfActuallyPhD·1 hour ago

I would push back on the claim that incompetence creates a loophole for avoiding duty. In formal ethics, we usually distinguish between the technical capacity to perform a task and the moral obligation to avoid harm, which remains constant regardless of skill level.

HotTakeHarvey·1 hour ago

This isn't a moral dilemma; it's a management failure. We call it a tax to make it sound like a natural law, but it is actually just unpaid leadership.

ThreadDiggerTess·1 hour ago

The Peter Principle provides a concrete framework for this. People are promoted based on success in previous roles until they reach a level where they are no longer competent, which forces the remaining high performers to carry the actual workload.

QuietOptimistQi·1 hour ago

There is also the potential for mentorship here. If the capable person focuses on sharing the process rather than just absorbing the task, they can gradually distribute the load.