I came across an interesting website the other day ... http://www.we-forum.org/en/events/AnnualMeeting2010/index.shtml.
Unfortunately, the link to the Stiglitz interview doesn't work ... but here is a short one from the same interview. It is an excerpt from the Philippe Diaz film, The End of Poverty? Think Again. Once you see that one, you'll also see links to other excerpts from the film and to trailers and other information.
The Davos website is not what it appears to be, but I encourage you to explore it anyway. Some of the videos are priceless.
The link under "initiatives" for "Sane Tax Initiative" strikes me as directionally correct:
Sane Tax Initiative
The cancellation of taxes on labor and basic consumption, the creation of a 2% worldwide tax on property ownership (except basic habitation for the poor), and the implementation of a global 0.5% flat tax on all financial transactions with a total prohibition of speculation on food products.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, taxes were largely used as a means of reducing inequalities, and fell mainly on property ownership.
Neoliberal policies of the 20th century slowly shifted the tax burden away from the rich to the poor by taxing labor and consumption—making the poor responsible for financing our economic system while giving the rich most of the benefit. And we all know what became of trickle-down theory.
Taxes must be shifted away from basic necessities and consumption, and back to profit-making operations, and the ownership of natural resources and other industrial properties. A tax must also be levied on financial transactions.
I would differentiate between property in land, which I strongly believe ought to be taxed, with the revenue applied to public purposes, and property in buildings and other owner-created structures and improvements to land, which I do not believe ought to be taxed.
Further, I do not think that "operations" ought to be taxed because they are profitable or buildings because they are "industrial." But I do agree that the ownership of natural resources ought not to enrich private individuals, or corporations, or any entity other than the public at large. (Alaska has taken important steps in this direction, with good results, over the past 30 or so years.)
I'm not sure what I think of taxing financial transactions, but I'm certainly in favor of measures which would end the speculation which we've been seeing and which has contributed to awesomely large fortunes created by hedge funds and other traders. Those fortunes don't come out of thin air, and the traders aren't growing the wealth pie or adding to the stability of our economy; when some reap what they didn't sow, others who sowed are not getting to reap. And that's wrong.
I'll post separately about the film, "The End of Poverty? Think Again," which is currently showing in NYC.
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