New Polish government to introduce Flat {-ulence} tax
From BBC website
I'm totally in favour of Poland's election victors, Civic Platform(PO), proposal to introduce a flat tax proposal of 15%. It will be of great benefit to everybody's health and the world's environment at large. For a long time now I have been telling friends, without much effect I should say, about the harm cows are doing to the environment with their pugnant methane. We humans are fairly innocent compared to the globally warming stench they omit on a daily basis. Seriously, let's look at the science.
The New Zealanders tried to bring in the flat(ulence) tax as a part of the Kyoto protocol. Needless to say it outraged farmers. The latter just wouldn't listen to the point that 50% of greenhouse gas emissions come from their cows' asses - well, actually the cow scientist specialists would say the authorities there misled the public somewhat. In a sense PO are guilty of the same flaw, with their catchy populist 'flat tax' propaganda.
The fact of the matter, from a scientific perspective, is that the majority of the methane is a result of burping, not farting! The bacteria in the rumen (1st stomach) is the main agent of ice sheet melting in this case.
So I would say to Civic Platform (PO) leaders, stop misguiding the Polish public. We are bright enough to face up to reality and make the necessary changes.
Just be honest and call it the 'Burping tax' - we're all right behind ye on this one!
Comments
(p.s. not sure if i'm right as i'm only an arm chair economist)
but the will naturally pay more tax as for example 15% of 3000 per month is 450, where as 15% of 5000 per month is 750. Therefore on a flat tax a person earning 5grand a month would pay 750 Zł tax which is a lot more than someone on only 3G. Why do you need to then tax them again?
It depends on whether you believe fiscal policy should be 'the war of each against all' as some Social Darwinists (Huxley and laissez-faire advocates) espoused or on the other hand if you believe that Kropotkin's mutual aid interpretation of Darwinism supported by his own observations of animal and human behaviour are better exemplary foundations to envision the management of society.
In Ireland you have a tax band system with tax-free allowance of about €8/9,000, then up to €32,000 you pay 20% and above this you pay 41% on the balance.
At the end of earning your gross €80,000 you pocket net €54,483.96 - out of this you pay pay related social insurance (prsi) as well as Private Health Insurance. You can lead a fairly comfortable life despite the government taking a good bit of your money.
Problem is gvt.'s squander a lot of funds and therefore the have-nots do not receive the services they should with the colossal input of revenue from income taxes, VAT, excise duties, etc.
The logic is that as a society we have greater responsiblities when we earn more, have a higher level of education, earn more not because we work more but mainly because we have 50 people working for us - we gain from the profits of their labour cause we had a better education, etc. Of course, some people work their asses off to gain capital and own their own business, but this doesn't give them any right to have 10 times more than their needs.
The real problem is not really with I.T. project managers who earn €100,000 annually but more with the
minority that own the majority - e.g. the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University in 2000 reported the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in that year - now that is truly expolitation.
Damien as regards your comment about the 1% in the world this is true. In Poalnd many people made large amounts of money, at time semi-legally, during the first year after the fall of communism - as a result of Balsarovicz's use of 'shock economics'. The result of this has been the creation of a political and economic elite and I think the only sensible thing would be to make these people pay a 'windfall tax'
At school I learned that VAT was a luxury tax, levied on caviare, truffles and the like, and therefore hitting the rich rather than the poor. That seems to have gone out the window since then, unless newspapers, building materials and the like are now to be considered luxuries.
Buy a few more F-16's; drive truckloads of money in front of hospitals in the line of vision of underpaid doctors; buy a new gvt. jet for Donald so he can do a tour of the world - the list is endless!!!
I don't trust any government, not even with the steam of my cat's piss. Governments may be more or less benign than their predecessors, but they remain a self-interested pack of wolves (no offence intended to our wolf friends).
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