Reported by:
Mah Ming Kit Sr3ComB
Photography by:
Low Weng Yi Sr3ScB
Leow Qian Siu Jr2S(2)
On 21st of April 2025, semi-finals for the Chinese Debate Competition were held to finalize the two best teams out of four. The excitement is building! The second-round winners are now meeting in B501 and B502, ready to battle it out for a coveted spot in the finals! The topic for both matches was the same which is “Should an Appearance Tax be Collected?”. The semi-finalists were Sr2A and Sr2ScE forming one of the matches while Sr2ScA and Sr2ComA formed the other. Interestingly, all teams were from the same level.
(Photo 1: Host for B502)
(Photo 2: Host for B501)
In B502, the proponent side was the first to establish their point of view, they claimed that appearance tax should be collected against individuals who use their appearance as their main source of income. With the tax collected, foundations can be created to assist individuals with “worse” appearance. As a result, groups who are focused on appearance can be guided towards a more positive direction in life.
On the other hand, the opposition claimed that appearance is somewhat subjective and changes of appearance do occur from time to time. Hence, fairness is indeed a major challenge to address. That being said, appearance would turn from an implicit bias into a form of discrimination if respective taxes were collected.
(Photo 3: Contestants of Sr2ScA)
(Photo 4: Contestants of Sr2ComA)
In the next round, questions were asked against each other. However, certain points were not effectively reacted by the proponent side such as fairness of the taxing process and the usage of appearance under specific fields such as science research.
Meanwhile in B501, a similar session was in progress. The proponent team claimed that appearances were being commercialised which contributed to generating income from related jobs. Besides, existing artificial intelligence applications can help make a fair assessment on an individual’s appearance. However, the opposition concluded with a point worth taking note of: appearance is a form of talent, and talents should not be taxed at.
(Photo 5: Contestants of Sr2ScE)
(Photo 6: Contestants of Sr2A)
Returning to B502, it was finally the “free debate” session. The opposition remained their strategy on questioning the reliability of the taxing standards while the proponents insisted their point of major income individuals were making through appearance was unfair.
It was finally time for both sides to make their final conclusion. The opposition said that appearance taxes will not help in tackling the root cause and proper values were the only way out in solving such problems. However, from the proponents’ view, they think that without the implementation of appearance taxes, it is a form of ignorance towards existing appearance discrimination while respective taxes can be used to promote “anti-lookism”.
The host then announced ten minutes of rest time and similar for both matches, the ending result leaned towards the opposing side. Congratulations to Sr2ScE and Sr2ComA qualifying into the finals!
(Photo 7: Group photo at B502)
