ABOUT KAMRAN’s Blog and GUEST BLOG
I- KAMRAN’s Blog: Dedicated to the Common Good- aiming to be a source of hope and inspiration; enabling us all to move from despair to hope; darkness to light and competition to cooperation. “Let the beauty we love be what we do.”-Rumi
II- KAMRAN MOFID’s GUEST’s BLOG: Here on The Guest Blog you’ll find commentary, analysis, insight and at times provocation from some of the world’s influential and spiritual thought leaders as they weigh in on critical questions about the state of the world, the emerging societal issues, the dominant socio-economic logic, globalisation, money, markets, sustainability, dialogue, cooperation, environment, media, spirituality, faith, culture, the youth, the purpose of business and economic life, the crucial role of leadership, and the challenges facing economic, business, management, education, and more.
“When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming together it is the beginning of reality.”—Helder Camara
Angel Oak Tree, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Photo: pinterest.com
- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 4784
Dr. Peter Bowman is Science Coordinator on the University Preparatory Certificate at University College London (UCL) and tutors economics at the School of Economic Science, London, UK
When I read Anthony Werner’s recent guest Blog “Can taxation be fair?”* it reminded me of a quotation I had read recently from JR McCulloch, first professor of political economy at UCL where I work. This is what he had to say about income tax:
‘The tax would fall with its full weight upon men of integrity, while the millionaire of “easy virtue” would well nigh escape it altogether. It would, in fact, be a tax on honesty, and a bounty on perjury and fraud; and, if carried to any considerable height—to such a height as to render it a prominent source of income—it would undoubtedly generate the most barefaced prostitution of principle, and would do much to obliterate that nice sense of honour which is the very foundation of national probity and virtue.’
This rings very true today as, in these times of austerity, the issue of tax avoidance and evasion has come to the fore. At one level the deliberate avoidance or evasion of tax is a gross injustice and is particularly malevolent in these straitened times. But McCulloch’s quote raises a different point which I wish to pursue and that is the question of how effective, how just, in simple terms how “good” are the taxes that honest citizens are expected to pay. If we as a society demand that everyone should pay their fare share of tax should we not also demand that the taxes we have to pay are “good” taxes? What do I mean by “good” taxes? Classical economics gives four criteria – (1) they should be fair, so no-one gains an unfair advantage, (2) they should be certain so it is clear how much everyone should pay, (3) they should be easy and cheap to collect and (4) they should fall as lightly as possible on production so they do not inhibit growth. For simplicity I will call taxes which fulfill these criteria “good” and ones that do not “bad.”
- Britain engulfed in Corruption: Costs& Consequences
- Britain engulfed in corruption Part IV: Is Britain more corrupt than it thinks?
- My Guest Blogger Steve Szeghi: Student Loan Debt in the United States, Time to Forgive
- Britain engulfed in corruption Part III: …And now GlaxoSmithKline fined $3bn for healthcare fraud
- Disgusted with rampant corruption, injustice, crony capitalism, and…? Then, it is Time to Get Crazy
- Moral and ethical tax avoidance: Is it possible?
- America: Welcome Back to European Values and Vision