Taxing times

Did you know that in Texas, no-one pays any personal income tax?  Instead, the state revenues required to pay for minimal government are generated through indirect taxation such as sales tax.  Interestingly, using this system has resulted in Texas being one of the most fiscally secure states in the US, while states which impose heavy rates of personal taxation, such as California, are in so much debt they are in danger of going bankrupt as their inhabitants relocate elsewhere, taking their money with them.

We can look at this situation in broader terms:  indirect taxation through levies on purchases, housing, fuel, for example, enables people to choose how they want to spend their money, what size house to live in, what car to drive, what lifestyle to adopt, and the choice applies equally to everybody in that community.   People can choose for themselves what to do with the money they have.

Direct taxation, on the other hand, is an imposition which is a form of power and control, often unfair and penalising the poorest in society while discouraging creativity, innovation and ambition - and independence.  It can be a disincentive also to philanthropy, sharing what we have generously with those in our community who are in need.  

It is predicted that it will be a long time before the UK and other heavily indebted countries in the western world (and there are more than is generally known) are free from their financial burdens, and that personal taxation will have to become heavier to help deal with them.   It is my belief, however, that there will be a global financial implosion so shocking and yet cathartic that the traditional ways will be blown away forever, and the resulting chaos will be so great that the claiming of any taxes will be impossible.  Borrowing and indebtedness, personal, corporate and national, similarly will be curtailed as new ways of exchange develop naturally.  It will be the new age of enlightenment, in every sense.