Basic structure of tax

I was writing an article on the new property tax and i was trying looking at it from the angle of fairness and its effect on the economy but I got side tracked a bit when i started thinking about taxes and what they are. So I wrote this piece on tax and how it should be structured. I intend this article to help put the property tax in the correct context for the next article. Some basics about tax: Governments get money in various ways. Some of these are
 (1) taxes
 (2) other sources include fines (i.e. Speeding fines, parking fines),
 (3) income from state run organizations (i.e. contributions from state universities student fees, revenue from profitable state bodies)
 (4) Printing currency by the central bank (not an option for euro countries anymore)
 (5) Borrowings and so on.

Taxes could be defined by the following

(1) they should be non penal. i.e. they should be based on a percentage of income or wealth that is fair and equitable

 (2) They should be compulsory , i.e. you have no option but to pay them

 (3) The government should impose them by way of the law of the country

(4) taxes should be in essence a transfer of wealth from the private to the public sector (i.e. government)

(5) they should based on preset criteria as laid down in the tax laws so that people can calculate how much they owe in the tax and know the basis of calculating the tax

(6) the tax paid should not be a reflection of services received i.e. its based on each taxpayers income or wealth and not on how much public services they receive. This is completely different to everything else you spend money on. The more books you buy in a bookshop the more you will pay but with tax often times those who pay the most receive the least amount of services. This is of course the redistribution of wealth from the wealthier to the poor. The ultimate model of this is perhaps communism

(7) The non payment of the tax should always punishable by penalties and fines and imprisonment. This is vital in order to ensure the tax is paid. Also it encourages people to pay on time by penalizing those who are late paying

 (8) It should be equitable and progressive. so the more you earn the more you pay and the greater your wealth the more you pay. Number 8 is one of the areas where problems arise with property tax because a person may have substantial assets which are very valuable but which generate no income and they may not be able to pay higher taxes based on wealth alone. However implied in the tax system is the premise that such a person should sell their assets until they are at a level where they can pay the tax. This is again complicated by taxes which arise when you sell assets.