Week 3 of my return to the frontline, and it seems to be getting a bit easier, somewhat like riding a bike. Admittedly, I haven’t ridden once of those for at least three decades, but nonetheless…
Today is the 1151st anniversary of Pope Nicholas I answering the envoys of Boris in relation to the creation of a ecclesiastical establishment favourable to Bulgaria. He sounds a lot smarter than our Boris. Also, on this day in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote;
…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes…
He was, of course, absolutely right, and apt for today, as you’ll see.
And so, what do we have for you today?
There will be our regular preview of business in the Lords, with a decided Liberal Democrat bias, as well as other news from Parliament, courtesy of Joe Bourke, of a new All Party Parliamentary Group on a topic of interest to Liberal Democrats who are interested in taxation.
We have another new contributor, Ben Rayment, who writes about foreign aid. I suspect that it might not be entirely uncontroversial, and look forward to a robust, but courteous, debate.
But we start with a piece on Michael Gove from a former member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team, Andy Boddington, and it isn’t what you might have expected. I’ll pull the pin on this particular hand grenade in about twenty minutes, so stay tuned for the debate that follows…
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3 Comments
The ‘Paradise Papers’ imply that taxation can be voluntary. The actions of large multi-national companies make a similar point.
What do you mean by death? heart stopping?
@ Richard,
I’d ask Benjamin, but he’s dead.
But seriously, one might argue that tax is voluntary, but only if you have the ability to locate yourself somewhere where the tax regime is light touch. Governments rely to an astonishing extent on the fact that most people can’t, or don’t do so.
Regarding your Benjamin Franklin quote..A more recent, but rather apt, quote reminds me of the Brexit/Parliament situation.. as Charles Bukowski might have said…”The problem with the UK is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”