““Taxation is the fuel of war.””

— L. Neil Smith

Tags: L. Neil Smith ∙ taxation ∙ fuel ∙ war

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Tags: Amazon ∙ Whole Foods ∙ water ∙ taxation ∙ pension ∙ National Flood Insurance ∙ speech wars ∙ Berkeley

How The EU’s Data Grab Could Affect You

❝❝The EU is poised to grab personal data in a way that could impact people around the globe. Information is power; it is power over your life and almost always includes a raid upon your wealth. The control of information is particularly important to cryptocurrencies because, unlike cash, they leave a transaction trail that makes privacy more difficult and imperative. Without privacy, it is not clear how liberating bitcoin can be for the individual.

A headline in New Europe (June 12) captures the purpose of the upcoming data grab in the EU: “The office of the European Public Prosecutor [EPPO] promises a new era has dawned in the EU for fighting financial crime.” Financial crime refers to the movement of wealth upon which a government frowns. It includes wealth rescued from confiscatory areas like Greece and the purchase of ‘unapproved’ services like sex. Financial crimes that do not involve theft or fraud are simply people who take control of their own financial choices.

The New Europe article further explains, “Every year, at least 50 billion euros of revenues from VAT are lost for national budgets all over Europe through cross-border fraud.” Taxes. The article could not be clearer about the EPPO being a tax grab. The word “terrorism” may be thrown into every second sentence but, in this content, it is a synonym of “tax collection.” The EU states do not want money to flow over borders and away from their reach. And, since nothing flows quite so smoothly as cryptocurrency, it will be targeted.❞❞
     — Wendy McElroy

Tags: clipping ∙ Wendy McElroy ∙ EU ∙ personal data ∙ privacy ∙ cryptocurrencies ∙ cash ∙ transaction trail ∙ financial crime ∙ movement of wealth ∙ VAT ∙ taxation

Memo To The Next President: We Can Grow A Lot Faster

❝❝The idea that there is some kind of inevitable decline in productivity, he says, is nonsense: "Experience and formal analysis tell us clearly that innovation and productivity happen where there is rule of law, simple and predictable regulation, property rights, reasonable taxation, an open and competitive economy, and decent public infrastructure," Cochrane wrote recently. "These politicians do have ample control over, and ample opportunity to screw up."

Presidents, working with Congress, can have an enormous impact on the things that matter.

So what matters? A kind of consensus is emerging among some economists that significant barriers to growth exist — and that they can be swept away. Doing so could push the long-term growth path back above 3% -- creating millions of new jobs and higher incomes at the same time.❞❞

Tags: skimmed ∙ decline ∙ productivity ∙ innovation ∙ productivity ∙ rule of law ∙ regulation ∙ property rights ∙ taxation ∙ President ∙ Congress ∙ clipping