Check 21 - Governments - Tax

Check 21 - Governments - Tax: Too much is never enoughEveryone pays their taxes.The deceptive simplicity of this principle belies the fact that, obviously enough, not everyone pays their taxes - quite the contrary, and the leaders of the G7 group of the world's richest nations are attempting to address this by imposing a global corporation tax of 15%. Whether this is enforceable remains to be seen. As things stand the global monetary system is set up in such a way that, on the one hand, nations are in a race to the bottom on tax costs to make their countries attractive to multi-nationals, under the delusion that such winning such a competition will benefit them and not harm them; and on the other, their funds are secreted through tax havens to evade contributing to the various infrastructures they benefit from. So instead - these costs fall to us, the citizens.But if we step back from the whole issue of Making The Big Guys Pay - do we need to pay taxes at all? What does this practice really mean to us, as citizens? How might it become more meaningful?In this episode we place these questions in three key contexts - the citizen, the national economy, and our bio-physical world - the biosphere.Talking points:Why do we pay taxes?"Rent", surplus and the common goodThe tax planning industry: not bad people, but in a bad systemIt's about fairness - why are we paying tax and not vast corporations?Nailing down the wealth extractors, rampant individualism, and the fault-linesGlobal taxation vs global tax competition: The G7National taxation vs local taxation: efficiency Centralisation, opacity and local powerTransparency and accountability - Sweden’s public tax returnsThe UK’s hand-maiden economy Deadweight taxes - thinking back to Adam SmithA society of rent-seekers vs a society of wealth-creatorsEfficiencies in tax expenditures: hypothecated taxes, mutual insurancesCompassionate communities and cost savingsCarbon taxation is a muddleEnd-to-end producer responsibility vs the planet as an economic “externality”Links:Interview with Fred Harrison (audio interview, 30 min): https://www.prosper.org.au/2021/01/we-are-rent-with-fred-harrison/?fbclid=IwAR1zkII88E7f2TKLXQOa9-wppO-27fwDoEz9Bt0JDTpLSTz5MchioDXSjvENicholas Shaxson on Britains Second Empire (...of tax-havens - article):https://taxjustice.net/2019/09/29/tax-havens-britains-second-empire/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.