TAXING
QUESTIONS
I
have little time for absolute monarchies or feudalism, but they
do not affect me, so I have no desire to change them. Even the
people who live there can, with very little trouble, pack up and
move on. However, if you wish to restrict liberty across the board,
the first thing you must do is iron out those small quirks such
as Sark and Liechtenstein, as some of them are rather libertarian
quirks. Take, for example, taxation. The Channel Islands (of
which Sark is the smallest) and Liechtenstein
are well-used tax havens. Attempts to make these areas fall in
line with the rest of Europe are not, therefore, really about
divorce or ministerial appointment, but about money.
THE MONEY
LAUNDERING SCAM
As
well as tax, and the unfairness of not giving more of your money
to the rapacious state, there is also the bogie of "money
laundering". This is based on the idea that if you somehow
block drug dealers and other organised criminals out of the financial
system, rewards will be less for them, so they wont sell
drugs any more. But it does not work like this. The fact is that
most anti-money laundering measures involve prying into bank accounts.
Consider this, the major opposition party has a rich backer. He
has been approached by the government to join their party, but
refuses. He is then targeted with a media campaign accusing him
of drug running and various other crimes. Then, when the government
is in trouble, they decide to leak details of his payments to
the press. This may sound like the behaviour of a third world
sham democracy, but it is what is happening in Britain, to the
controversial opposition financier, Michael
Ashcroft. The way in which they managed to look into the opposition
partys bank accounts? Well the money laundering regulations
allow all payments of over £10,000 (around $17,000) to be monitored
by the government. And you thought it was just to crack down on
criminals? Unless, like the British government, you regard all dissent as
criminal.
GAY ISLAND
LIFE
Another
example is the Caribbean, where numerous British dependencies,
like the Cayman Islands (which tend to be semi-detached from the
mother country), are suddenly under
attack for their prohibition on homosexuality. Banning homosexuality
may not be something that even the most conservative of us would
recommend for our country, but should we stand in the way of other
democracies deciding that this is what they want to do? The concern
for West Indian alternative lifestyles may be motivated more by
the lax tax and "money laundering" regimes of many of
these places. Bringing them under firmer British colonial control
may also bring their tax regimes and banking
systems under closer supervision of international regulators.
SOVEREIGNTY
AND LIBERTY
Their
fight is our fight. The ability to vote in the regime of your
choice is commonly known as Democracy. It is for this reason that
sovereignty is so important, as real democracy is not possible
in any other circumstance. To have that choice circumscribed by
outside powers is unacceptable intrusion. A New World Order is
threatening for this very reason. The wish to take away your guns
may be motivated by a desire to disarm a rebellious populace (I
do not subscribe to this theory). Or it may be due to a simple
incomprehension of a comfortable urban elite towards the joy of
hunting and fear of intruders. How much worse is this going to
be if the decisions are made in Brussels or Geneva, rather than
just Washington or New York? Always remember a simple but often
forgotten equation, Sovereignty = Democracy = Liberty.
DUMPED
UPON
The
word "dumping"
is often used, borrowed from protectionists, to describe the use
of policies that give a weaker partner an advantage in trade.
Add-on labour costs are lower than in Germany, why that is social
dumping. Lower taxes become unfair tax competition. And a devalued
exchange rate becomes financial dumping. All are seen as a menace,
all are to be stopped. It does not occur to decision-makers that
competition could lead to us finding a suitable mixture of taxation,
labour costs and social provision, which would be endorsing a
"race to the bottom". Clintons so-called free
trade regime is just as guilty as the most arrogant French regime
on this matter. Fair Trade, as espoused by the otherwise commendable
Pat
Buchanan, is not the same as Free Trade, merely an excuse
at foreign meddling. To regulate trade is aiming at internal interference
in foreign regimes as much as the direct use of military force.
FREEDOM
OF MOVEMENT
The
very fact that you have a choice is the final guarantee of liberty.
If you do not like a regime you can, in extremis, leave. The circumstances
do not need to be as extreme for your money to go to a less heavily
taxed part of the world. This is all declining in the name of
fairness. Despotism can only really start when we can go nowhere
else, it is vital to remove these quirky dependencies and archduchies.
It is time to defend the reaction, if change is not absolutely
necessary it is absolutely necessary not to change. Our ultimate
guarantee of liberty, to move our money or persons to more liberal
climes, is being whittled away in the name of the very liberty
it is destroying.