Tax Havens and the Greedy Rich, by Jeff Thomas

If you want to hang on to your money you’re greedy. Politicians who want to take it all away from you are humanitarians. From Jeff Thomas at internationalman.com:

In 1960, 18 European countries, plus the US and Canada, signed on to become charter members of the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Since that time, another 20 countries have signed on.

The Organisation was an expansion of an existing French organisation, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), begun in 1948.

Not surprisingly, the OECD became an extension of the OEEC and was led by France. As such, the tone of the OECD reflected French governmental thinking on economics. As the organisation expanded its power, its direction became more focused on two of the French government’s economic fixations: worldwide collection of tax and worldwide equalisation of tax.

Of course, France is known for its often-crippling levels of taxation, and in 2013, over 8,000 French people saw their tax bills top 100% of their earnings. This extraordinary tax level was, not surprisingly, introduced by socialist President Francois Hollande.

Monsieur Hollande may have been extreme in his tax, but by French standards, not dramatically so. France has long been a bastion for the socialistic belief that the “Greedy Rich” must be forced to pay their “fair share.”

The Greedy Rich

So, who exactly are the Greedy Rich? At what level of income does one become a member of this group? Well, like most things socialist, “rich” is a sliding scale. The man who came up with a new design for widgets and borrowed money and built a factory, employing others to make the widgets, is likely to find himself categorised as “rich.”

Has he has a bad year and actually made less money than his lowest-paid employee for that year? No matter, he is still rich. (The adjective “greedy” is optional, to be used whenever criticising those being described as “rich.”)

In considering the above, if we harbour resentment for such an individual, we might define “Greedy Rich” as “someone who appears to have more money than I do.”

Of course, as stated above, this definition requires a sliding scale, as we cannot place a dollar figure on “rich.” A rich person is simply someone who appears to have more money than we do, whatever that amount might be. Similarly, “fair share” might be defined as “more than they are presently paying.”

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