THE TABLET

THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY FOUNDED IN 1840

SOCIAL JUSTICE

DISHONESTY PERMEATES THE TAX DEBATE

Though tax rates are said to be at their highest for 50 years, the British need to pay more, not less, tax. Not only have years of state under-investment created a huge backlog of expenditure that can no longer be avoided, but worse is round the corner. An ageing population will inevitably increase demands on the public purse. And medical advances have created pressure within the National Health Service for significant increases in its budget year on year, for the foreseeable future. Indeed, every single area of public investment, from education to the armed forces, prisons to local government, policing to house building, is struggling to stay afloat. In severe cases, for instance the threatened bankruptcy of local government in Birmingham and elsewhere, they are not waving but drowning.

Yet the political story of the moment is about right-wing pressure on the chancellor of the exchequer to cut taxes in order to stimulate economic growth, to create a fantasy of returning prosperity prior to next year’s general election. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, says he cannot risk putting more money into circulation by tax cuts, because that will only increase demand for goods and services and boost inflation. Meanwhile the Bank of England is singing from the same hymn sheet when it warns that it may have to raise bank interest rates yet again, in order, in accordance with monetary theory, to suck more money out of the economy. In other words, to make people poorer.

The money being sucked out in this case is largely from the pockets of families struggling to buy their own homes with mortgages. Why this group should be in the front line in the fight against inflation is an issue never discussed, though it would be far more equitable to do this “sucking out”, if it really is necessary, by raising taxes progressively on income and wealth. But that is believed to be politically toxic; even the Labour Party seems to think so. There is a lack of honesty in the entire political discourse around tax, including the obvious fact that damage to the common good through the socalled era of austerity has still not been repaired. Nor will politicians of left or right be honest with the public about the harm done by Brexit: not just the Tory mismanagement of it, but the thing itself.

The debate lacks any sense that taxation is a source of benefits to the public at large. This used to be called a “social wage”, whereby the state returns to individual taxpayers the valuable services they would otherwise have to pay for themselves. The concept needs reviving, to counteract the idea that taxation is just state confiscation. Taxation is an instrument of social justice, redistributing to poorer parts of society resources they otherwise could not afford. It embodies the Robin Hood idea, taking from the rich to give to the poor. But it is not stealing. Democratic government legitimises it. In a mature society with honest politicians telling them the truth, people would willingly vote for tax rises.

NORTHERN IRELAND

A FORMULA FOR PEACE

It is time the United Kingdom government started to be tougher with the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland. It could, for example, suspend the salaries of DUP members of the Northern Ireland Assembly until they agree to resume their participation in the devolved government. If this would require a fresh election for the assembly, daring the DUP to make non-cooperation the central plank of its manifesto, then so be it.

Northern Ireland needs a functioning administration. But under the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), the formation of the executive requires the consent of both communities. The largest party in the assembly – currently Sinn Féin – provides the first minister and the second largest – the DUP – his or her deputy. The DUP’s refusal to abide by this convention after the elections in May last year meant that no such appointments could be made, and hence the assembly could conduct no business. Since then the administration of the province has been in the hands of Westminster politicians, though they are severely limited in what they can do. Many observers of this folly believe the real reason the DUP will not participate is they are no longer the largest party, and could not stand working with a Sinn Féin first minister. The stated reason is they are not satisfied with the concessions on the workings of the Northern Ireland Protocol, and want more.

But there is another side to this, and it hinges on the fact that the GFA itself, supported by UK legislation, guarantees

that Northern Ireland will constitutionally remain part of the UK until a majority of people vote in polls – which would take place simultaneously in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland – for a united Ireland. But any such outcome could produce an exact match of the problem that bedevilled Northern Ireland politics for 70 years. How do you stop a majority using its democratic ascendency to dominate and suppress a minority? The Protestants of various persuasions did precisely that to Northern Ireland’s Catholics. In a united Ireland achieved by simple majority vote in Northern Ireland – assuming a majority in the south also voted for unification – the roles would be reversed. While many – especially younger – Protestants might be drawn to the more socially liberal republic, the majority in a reunited Ireland would nevertheless be at least culturally Catholic and Nationalist, leaving a Protestant loyalist minority resistant and resentful. They might well resolve not to give up their “Britishness” without a fight. That is not a formula for peace.

Had the GFA specified that unification could not come about without the support of both communities, each would have had a veto. That would have required supporters of a united Ireland to woo the Protestants of the North, not just to seek to outvote them, but to persuade them it was in their best interests. Would such an adjustment to the GFA be enough to satisfy the DUP now? It is worth asking the question.

2 | THE TABLET | 16 SEPTEMBER 2023

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