I was reading a few things today that just jarred immediately and set me thinking, which is always dangerous.
Apparently the treasury has spent £280Bn on its immediate Coranavirus measures, with no short-term likelihood of an end to the farago that is the lockdown cycle. The economic knock-ons are unpredictable, but promise to be eye-watering too. Boris said today that there are no plans to increase income tax, VAT or NI to help balance the books. Somehow, they are going to find a magic way of paying down the costs.
Of course it is not only the UK that has this issue, pretty much every other country is in a similar position.
The Germans have a handy precedent, which still lurks on their law books. It was called the 'Lastenausgleichsgesetz' (Burden equalisation law) and was used to get the country running again after the war, along with Marshall Plan money. In its simplest form, anyone who owned property or had any money (In any form: Savings, investments, bonds, debt or credit) had to pay 50-90% of it to the government in the form of a backdated tax. The society as a whole was to benefit. This is still in the federal Grundgesetz (Basic law) Article 14.3, whereby the government cannot confiscate any legally acquired wealth or property from anyone...at all...under any circumstances...whatsoever ... unless the government decides it is for the general good of society. Worryingly, a few senior politicians have been flying this kite again recently, especially the socialists and the greens.
I remember before the GE in UK last year our Green party suggesting that their government would take all savings and wealth above a certain value in exchange for government bonds, as they were sure that the public wouldn't mind their idle cash being put to good use for the community, especially the building of a green economy.
For me the whole thing is a glaring hole in any discourse or policy around the current pandemic, but the question will not go away. Who exactly is going to pay this tab and how?
Apparently the treasury has spent £280Bn on its immediate Coranavirus measures, with no short-term likelihood of an end to the farago that is the lockdown cycle. The economic knock-ons are unpredictable, but promise to be eye-watering too. Boris said today that there are no plans to increase income tax, VAT or NI to help balance the books. Somehow, they are going to find a magic way of paying down the costs.
Of course it is not only the UK that has this issue, pretty much every other country is in a similar position.
The Germans have a handy precedent, which still lurks on their law books. It was called the 'Lastenausgleichsgesetz' (Burden equalisation law) and was used to get the country running again after the war, along with Marshall Plan money. In its simplest form, anyone who owned property or had any money (In any form: Savings, investments, bonds, debt or credit) had to pay 50-90% of it to the government in the form of a backdated tax. The society as a whole was to benefit. This is still in the federal Grundgesetz (Basic law) Article 14.3, whereby the government cannot confiscate any legally acquired wealth or property from anyone...at all...under any circumstances...whatsoever ... unless the government decides it is for the general good of society. Worryingly, a few senior politicians have been flying this kite again recently, especially the socialists and the greens.
I remember before the GE in UK last year our Green party suggesting that their government would take all savings and wealth above a certain value in exchange for government bonds, as they were sure that the public wouldn't mind their idle cash being put to good use for the community, especially the building of a green economy.
For me the whole thing is a glaring hole in any discourse or policy around the current pandemic, but the question will not go away. Who exactly is going to pay this tab and how?
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