Author Archives: Thomas Colignatus

Don’t tax sweat – An Independent View from Thomas Colignatus

By Thomas Colignatus | Sat 3rd April 2010 - 2:45 pm

With our intelligence and enterpreneurship we create micro-chips and send crafts into space, but the creation of jobs for the disadvantaged seems out of reach. The rich countries in the world still have a huge pool of unemployment and poverty at the bottom of society. A close analysis gives the insight that we actually create unemployment and poverty ourselves.

The following table gives the legal minimum wage in the US (dollars), in the UK (pounds) and in Holland (euros) as key examples for the rich world. The table is best understood from the principle of “don’t tax sweat”.

That is, workers at the minimum should be exempt from levies.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 7 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Michael BG
    Simon R, “it’s not at all clear to me how deliberately making wealthy people poorer in the name of equality can improve anything. That seems to me ver...
  • Thelma Davies
    Why should American Jewish students attending Harvard need to call out the actions of the Israeli government? The three university presidents who gave testimony...
  • Daniel Stylianou
    I’m always astounded by how many people suddenly develop law degrees when they read a summary of a judgement they don’t like. Was the decision of the SC ...
  • Joseph Bourke
    In reality there is not much in the way of British consumer goods left to buy ...
  • Ricky Treadwell
    Do we want to give this ground to Labour? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/08/rachel-reeves-rejects-calls-buy-british-campaign-us-tariffs I refuse...