Global tax
From Sustain
The absence of functional global governance critically restricts our capacity to address the oncoming problems of this century. The primary tool at the disposal of all governments is tax; both for application of the revenue raised, and the influence tax can have upon behaviour.
In our world of unbridled competition and sacrosanct liberty, it has become morally acceptable to avoid our duty to pay tax. The fragmentation of national tax systems allows such avoidance to flourish in the cracks. A consistent global system will close off such opportunities for the main perpetrators – wealthy capital holders – and call time on the inevitable race to the bottom of standards engendered by country on country competition.
The switch to a global system would also provide the opportunity to address the absurd complexity of our incrementally-layered national tax codes. A common fiscal system built on clear principles would more likely garner support for efforts to reassert each individual’s responsibility to make an equitable contribution to society.
Solutions to inequality, depletion and ignorance require the establishment of a global fiscal system.
A sustainable society requires a sustainable division of wealth. Despite rapid expansion in material wealth, we lack social balance within even our thriving economies. The disparities in global wealth are abhorrent. Our shared human rights need to extend to their rightful breadth – education, health and social safety nets, all comprehensively and consistently provided. The relatively low level of international aid and philanthropy are palliative at best; only extensive transnational redistribution can deliver balance in time.
For markets to quell depletion, we will need to intervene in the price mechanism to ensure the true long term cost of resource is reflected, rather than the incremental cost of extraction plus monopoly rent. To do this accurately and equitably requires comprehensive fiscal cooperation to assess and manage our resource.
To dispel ignorance as fast and as far as possible, intellectual property must be abolished. To continue to cultivate innovation and creativity will also demand a global taxation solution.
To achieve these aims will require an unlikely sacrifice of national sovereignty. This does not undermine the validity of promoting the principles as a call for progress in this direction.
The detail of this section expands of these issues: Global tax detail.
The next few chapters delve into more detail into some of the changes I believe should be pursued in our endeavour towards a sustainable society, starting with Resource rent.
