Revelations that David Cameron “has done nothing wrong” by avoiding tax are reminiscent of the debacle at the end of the last Tory government. Tories, Dodgy Dave included, think everyone is out to feather their own nests and really don’t see what all the fuss is about.
Taxation policy has played a significant part in bringing us to our current state and it’s abundantly clear that the current tax system in this country is deeply dysfunctional as successive governments shift the tax “burden” from those most able to pay tax to those least able to pay. As the late Ken Gill said: “You pay tax and you buy civilisation.” Most people, but not, it appears, Tory politicians understand that taxes are a price we pay for a decent society.
Even under capitalism it is possible to devise a tax structure that does not place the entire burden of taxation on ordinary working people and their families, but it requires an unapologetically class-based analysis such as that employed by the Party’s Economics Commission in arriving at the Party Pamphlet From each According to their Means, available from the Communist Party Shop or from Communist Party, Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon CR0 1BD, (020) 8686-1659.
The criteria employed by the Economics Commission were that taxes should be redistributive, capable of promoting “social justice,” reflective of the ability to pay, simple to understand, predictable, unavoidable, compatible with each other, objective to assess, transparent and free from interference by those hostile to the interests of the working class, including Tories, parliamentary lobbyists, senior civil servants and the judiciary.
The detailed proposals, included:
- Tackling the estimated £120 billion lost to Britain through tax avoidance and evasion via introduction of a robust, general anti-avoidance rule which actually “does what it says on the tin” and which includes serious financial or other penalties for those found to have broken the law — giving HMRC the resources it needs to do the job properly along with an end to its current big business-friendly mode of operation; and radical proposals to clamp down on tax havens and the transnational corporations that use them.
- Unilateral action to end the special tax status of all tax havens under British control
- Restoration of corporation tax to between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, linked to restoration of a form of advance corporation tax to reduce the incentive for corporations to pursue tax avoidance strategies and windfall taxes on corporations’ recent super-profits.
- Introduction of new 60 per cent rate of tax for earned income over £60,000 a year, and a 70 per cent rate for unearned income over £60,000 a year.
- Innovative proposals for the abolition of all current property taxes and replacement with a land value tax (LVT), with the aim of shifting the burden of taxation away from earned income and reducing the scope for tax evasion. This would return to society the value of land that society itself creates and help tackle the evident social injustice generated by the concentration of land ownership in the hands of small elite.
- Tackling the growing gap between rich and poor with the introduction of an annual wealth tax of 2 per cent and higher rates for the “mega rich,” ending “non-resident” and “non-domiciled” exemption from British income and wealth taxes; and steps to prevent capital flight by implementation of robust exchange controls.
- Reforming current environmental taxation — which has an important role to play in changing behaviour as well as raising revenue, with the aim of promoting sustainable economic development — by moving to a “tax-and-dividend” approach for addressing the problem of global warming — with Britain acting unilaterally, if necessary, by way of example, with the introduction of standardised carbon tariffs on imports.
- Support for a financial transaction tax (Tobin tax) on trade in currencies to give Britain greater control of its economic policy and introduction of a financial activities tax (a levy on banks’ profits and remuneration packages).
Now those really would give Dodgy Dave some sleepless nights.
Croydon Communists 