I mentioned yesterday that I was to give the Salter lecture for the Quaker Socialist Society at the Quaker's Yearly Meeting in Bath last night.
I duly did, using the title 'Tax Justice: A Quaker's Concern', and over 400 Friends came to hear, to all of whom I am grateful.
What I said (pretty much, as I am not that good at sticking to scripts) is here. I admit it does assume a little understanding of some Quaker thinking, but not much.
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Thanks for publishing this, a great lecture.
excellent stuff. ‘tax justice Taliban’… that really is stretching the definition of a terrorist!
I have just finished reading the speech and I think it an excellent summary of the objectives and achievements of Tax Justice, regardless of faith. Thoroughly recommended reading.
Thanks
relating to part of speech discussing transparency, the Daily Mail (spits on floor…) has put up an article describing how US citizens are renouncing their American citizenship in a bid to avoid clampdown on tax evasion.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719745/Americans-continue-renounce-U-S-citizenship-record-numbers-Fatca-rules-come-force.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
wonder whether we’ll see a similar thing happen here and what pro’s + con’s will be for those involved?
So the evaders are jumping ship
Maybe an idea worth pursuing….
Notice though it is about 3,000 a year
It’s hardly a big deal, is it? In 300 million or so
maybe not.
all depends how much is lost to evasion by the 0.001%. will have to get some new signs made up, ‘We are the 99.999%’.
Richard your campaign and that of your colleagues and supporters in the 21st century for tax justice ranks alongside and up there with that other great Quaker campaign of the 18th century calling for the abolition of the slave trade. Like that great struggle of yesteryear this one is a grass roots movement. Its popularity like that of yesteryear is because it is a cause that resonates with the hope of the great mass of ordinary people — namely a peaceful and better life for all who inhabit our world.
I hope it does resonate
That’s the aim
Dear Richard, thanks so much for your talk. I enjoyed hearing you and was so pleased that you got a good audience. Best wishes Susan
Thanks Susan
Was good to see you
Go well
Richard
One point about the lecture: austerity is not ‘needed’ in any event. Even in the absence of a fairer tax system, and cutting out spending on Trident missiles and submarines (= £100 billion, the cost of running all NHS A & E services for 40 years), austerity is _still_ not needed. The Government can solve its deficit problem, insofar as it has one, quite simply, by taking back control of the Bank of England, which would require repeal of the 1998 Bank of England Act, and have the BoE buy as much of the public debt as convenient, using money it has created for the purpose. You and I cannot do this without breaking the law, of course, but that is the advantage Governments have over private citizens and firms. The Tory lie that the National Debt and annual public sector deficit has to be reduced because otherwise ‘the country is living beyond its means’, like Mr Micawber, is one that needs, as a matter of urgency, to be firmly refuted, especially as the modern Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties believe it as well. (Old Labour didn’t, but that’s beside the point.) There is no danger at all that such a procedure as I have advocated here would lead to rampant hyper-inflation, because there are so many unemployed (or underemployed) people and so much in the way of un- or under-employed resources.
I agree with you
But most people don’t realise
Sometimes you have to show the prevailing narrative is wrong in itself before straying another
It is taking the audience with you
If we can print all the money we need why your obsession about tax avoidance ….?
Because money gets its relevance and value from tax
And if done unjustly inequality results
Next?
An excellent and interesting read. Alas, the Quakers and their movement did not prevent the surge of European nationalism and imperialism during the 18th Century and all that followed. Perhaps another example is that we seem now to be in much the same position as the Anglo-Saxon landholders were in around the year 1080.
A brilliant, eye-opening lecture. I was fortunate to be able to attend. Witty and well-informed and polemical (why not?).
Thanks David