Saturday 30 December 2017

Taxes and honours

William Wallace makes a compelling case for bringing the UK into line with comparable democracies in relation to tax fairness: https://www.libdemvoice.org/we-need-to-talk-about-tax-56219.html He concludes:

The IMF urges the UK to narrow the tax gap between employed and self-employed, to shift property taxation from sales to values, and to reduce tax allowances on corporate debt. Above all, it calls for higher taxes, to invest in public services while shrinking long-term debt, and to cope with the increasing proportion of elderly. Liberals and social democrats should grasp the argument that an open, democratic society rests on a sense of common citizenship, shared community and social justice, and that redistributive taxation is an essential element in building and maintaining that sense.

There is justification for going beyond the tax rates proposed while we have the additional burden of sharing the cost of nuclear weapons with the USA, which none of our competitors have. I resent having to borrow money to pay for armaments over which an increasingly bellicose and isolationist US has ultimate control.

Gongs


Looked at objectively, the award of a knighthood to Nick Clegg is unexceptionable. Many men who have contributed less to public life have been so honoured. However, the Conservative government must have known that it would stir up old animosities within the Lib Dems at a time when the party is regrouping under new leaders in Westminster and Wales.

I repeat my own view that Nick is an instinctive liberal, and that if he had wanted to join the Conservatives he could easily have done so, and would have had a successful career as a Tory MP, maybe even as a junior minister, to this day. He was handicapped by his sheltered experience of life, never having to worry about where the next pound was coming from, and by the fact that, though he led the party, he was never of the party.

An honour for Jo Swinson was long overdue. It is "only" a CBE this time round, but she is young yet and a damehood will surely come with leadership of the party.

More here: https://www.libdemvoice.org/swinson-and-clegg-honoured-56239.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very surprised to read your comment about Jo Swinson. She was Baby of the House until 2009. During the last government she was Under Secretary of State for Employment and before that Junior Equalities minister. She is at the beginning of her career. Does she need a gong for doing her job? Usually these things are given to people as they are about to retire. It does not exactly smack of a party that is looking forward with a brave new vision of what Britain will be like. More like looking backwards and finding comfort in old and out if date traditions. It is ironic that the award was made the week all those imperial records went missing.