In Advance of a Broken Budget

 

So, Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, estimates that a higher tax burden will be with us for at least thirty years, if the economy is to square itself up without cutting public services or pensions. Whoop-de-doo, no shit, Sherlock! I have no idea how we arrived at a point in history - actually I do - such as we are at present, with government, banks and sundry other vested interests blithely thinking they can carry on taking a wrecking ball to our economy and civil society, both. They - and we, to the extent that a significant number of us agree - seem to have taken on board and normalized the absurd notion that you can have society without collective responsibility. We all depend on one another, at some small or greater level. Higher taxes should not be seen as a burden, but as a natural concomitant of engaging with the rest of humanity in a common cause of mutual support and succour. The history of taxation is obviously vexed: feudal lords, vassals and peasants, etc., but we moved on from that some considerable time ago. 

Progress has been made towards a more equitable society and modes of governance. At least, until the rise of neoliberalism and monetary policy back in the seventies and eighties started to erode the benefits of the immediate post-war period, when the state had our backs and taxes were commensurate with the needs of the state and the people. The only ones standing in the way of genuine progress are the 'anti's' of the right: the self-interested people of means, whose entire raison d'être is to secure their money and lifestyle at the expense of the rest of us. If we desire to live in a civilized society, then we should expect to have to contribute our bit to it; something the Danes have completely internalized, and are showing the world that it works perfectly well: high taxes, high prices and a universal basic income mean that government works, businesses thrive, and the entire population is economically active. End-result? Consistently the happiest country in the world.

This kind of Goldilocks economy is what we should all be striving for: not perfect, but pretty damned close, and a sight better than we've got in the UK at present. The simple fact is that the rich are the problem. Rich people in government are the problem. They are not, despite the bullshit smokescreen they surround themselves with, 'wealth creators', except in and for themselves. They are the 'other'. They are the ones who should be cast beyond the pale and shunned. And if they don't want to engage on an equitable basis with our economy, they should have no place in our society. It's as simple as that.