The head of Deutsche Post has been accused of tax fraud, using Lichtenstein as a haven. Now the thing has come to light, it is turning out that a lot of wealthy Germans are doing the same.
Good luck to them say I. The German Chancellor just needs to remember the people and companies are mobile whereas property is fixed. With globalisation of corporations and the super-rich, if governments do not want to let them get off scot-free, this principle is more important than ever.
Land cannot be hidden or demolished or removed to a tax haven and it is straightforward to levy and collect a tax on land. If the owner does not pay up, then, as a last resort, it can be confiscated and sold to pay the tax due. People, especially politicians, should not complain when people and corporations try to avoid paying tax. There is a simple solution and it is up to governments to apply it.
I got involved in a discussion with a Youtuber called “Philosophy all along”. This was in connection with criticism of Trump’s policy of deporting illegal migrants, which he argued would be bad for the economy as it would reduce demand. This implies that there is a need to import people to sustain demand. There is no obvious reason why a population should not be able to consume everything that the same population produces. If it can not, then something else is going on. It is a basic principle that wages are the least that workers will accept to do a job. Wages are a share of the value added by workers through their wages. The remainder is distributed as economic rent, after government has taken its cut in taxes. Monopoly profit is a temporary surplus that after a delay gets absorbed into economic rent. Land values in Silicon Valley are an example of this; it's like a gold rush. The miners get little out of it. Rent and tax syphon purchasing power away from those who produce the g...
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