Tax Flattery
It is Sunday afternoon, the rain is pelting down with the persistence of a zealot, and in the distance the thunder rolls. Apparently the south coast is being lashed by a tornado of sorts. No doubt this is all part of Al Gore's eco-collapse philosophy. Sorry Al, I'd rather face global destruction than listen to you. At least I wouldn't be bored.
Gina is down at the Tory conference in Bournemouth, where they will make great decisions such as whether they should get their new party logo designed by a sub-normal three year old child. Oops… too late for that one. Dave "coke, what coke?" Cameron has already spoiled it by telling us that there won't be any policies being announced. Another little flame of hope dies. To paraphrase our middle-of-the-road (so he can follow the white line?) leader I am an analogue Tory in a digital Hell.
As a Conservative since I was old enough to know that socialism is dumb (12) it hurts me to say that my biggest hope for the next general election is a hanged parliament. And before you all email me to tell me that it should be "hung" parliament, I know what I mean. A hung parliament is when no party has an overall majority. A hanged parliament is when every last man jack of them is garrotted from a lamppost.
The Czechs have a hung, rather than hanged, parliament at the moment. Locked in unholy deadlock and seeking to form alliances, it means that for once people give a toss what the handful of Greens think. Al will be happy. All this is rather annoying, because the dominant party, the ODS, are looking to introduce 15% flat rate income tax. Whether they can push this through on a coalition ticket only time will tell, but if it finally happens you will know about it. You'll hear me whooping from the rooftops even if I'm a thousand miles away.
Flat tax is the mark of economic civilisation. In other words, it is an end to the punitive persecution of the middle classes. The really rich don't need to give a shit. They're rich enough to pay other rich people to squirrel away their assets in numbered accounts, offshore trusts, any anything else that the taxman can't tap. It is a practice that is immoral and disgusting, and if I was loaded I'd get a team so good that they would be able to prove that I didn't even own my own pants.
The poor don't have to care, because they're too busy sponging off the state to have to worry about contributing to it. So that leaves fools like me, earning just enough to get my ass taxed to oblivion but not enough to hire a lackey or two to fiddle my books.
I am a passionate advocate of flat tax, and not purely for my own personal gain, although if the ODS do pull this off I will gain personally in a most satisfying way. I object to what the staggered rate that we currently have in the UK (and the Czech Republic) says. It says that if you work hard and aspire to succeed you will be punished. It says that should you earn more money you will be deducted disproportionately. Of course if you earn more you should pay more tax, and flat tax does this. But it does this in a proportional way. What we have at the moment smacks of jealousy. Taxes should be about financing a country, not settling petty scores with those who have dared to try. It creates an artificial social divide; a deliberate inequality.
Flat tax has been introduced in many European countries, including pioneering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. As rejections of Marxism go, it doesn't get much better.
Hopefully my new home will be following suit, and hopefully this will be sooner rather than later. Before January would be nice. And if Dave the Chameleon wants to turn this country around maybe he could decide to give the middle classes a break. The Tories have signed some sort of accord of agreement with the ODS so the concept is not totally alien. So come on, Cammy and "Boy" George, put that idea in your crack pipe and snort it.
Finally, on a totally different topic, a sad farewell to Boz Burrell. Bad Company were rubbish, you weren't much cop in Crimson, but you rocked out in Roger Chapman's Shortlist. I only hope that your words in the afterlife are not the same as your salutation at the start of He Was She Was You Was We Was. "Are you hot enough?"
