And, no, this one isn't about eating babies either (unless you realize that you're the baby on the platter).
Here's the premise. Rich people don't pay taxes so why should ordinary Canadians pay taxes? Remember the KPMG scandal from last September? We let those guys and their accountants off the hook. It was all settled with a handshake and a nod. Nobody went to jail but that's because those folks are different than us folks.
Now we've got the Panama Papers scandal that shows that Western democracy has, under the corruptive weight of neoliberalism, decayed into illiberal democracy that, today, borders on outright oligarchy.
It sounds to me that maybe it's a good time to see if there's a consensus on the rest of us paying taxes when the rich won't while our governments turn a blind eye. Now ask yourself this. Who do you think your government would first sling into jail - you, or them? Hint: don't put your money on "them." You would find yourself in the Greybar Hotel so fast your head would still be spinning.
That's always the problem with illiberal democracy. The ballot box offers no solutions.
6 comments:
A mass tax revolt has always been the only way for 'the people' to be heard. Just don't hold your breath while waiting for it.
No, I won't hold my breathe. I think we have become conditioned, marginalized, and rendered ineffective, timid. I don't think it is accidental how social cohesion has been undermined.
I worry about a post-Soviet Union collapse here in the West. Probably won't happen, but it could. And the longer we continue on as we do, the likelier it becomes.
It really does take lightening in a bottle to extricate ourselves from such circumstances when reading into history. For instance, there's Teddy Roosevelt, who grew up during the tail end of the Long Depression and was motivated to start bringing to heel an out of control US financial sector and manufacturing industry.
The Russians weren't so lucky, although a majority of them would probably argue that Putin, who arose out of the ashes of the Russian ruin to take hold of power, is worlds better then how it'd been before he seized power when power had been contested between competing and warring oligarchs who'd sought to divvy up Russia's wealth between them.
That's the danger of these times. Strongmen rise to power, and often they'll seem like a breath of fresh air to those who've been smelling nothing but the stench of corpses littered about them.
In this ongoing and worsening financial crisis, we're probably not going to get another Roosevelt to start us on the path out of it. We're more likely to end up with a Putin, or a Napoleon.
How does someone do an effective tax revolt when income taxes are deducted from paycheques and sales taxes are charged when paying for goods and services? Besides, all that a tax revolt would result in is a situation like Greece, leading to severe austerity. The rich will still be fine. The cold, hard reality is that only when the wealthy criminal parasites experience physical consequences will things start to change for the better.
@ Troy - as you know there have been plenty of rumblings about another looming recession that could be far worse than '08. With all this chicanery leading to both inequality for most and unethical privilege for the few I suspect that one more thrashing could now trigger upheaval.
The stage is certainly set for the arrival of another Teddy Roosevelt bearing a Square Deal for the 21st century. On the other hand this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some dark charismatic of the type the world endured in the 30s.
@ Anon 5:15 - yes, you're right. We're effectively denied that means of protest also. Once you cross off the civil disobedience options what's left but to take to the streets with pitchforks and torches? We could emulate Italy's Forconi Movement of 2013.
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