The male and female bosses of finance and major powers around the world have chosen the stage of Venice to play the farce of “global tax justice”.
We are talking about farce because it is the same powers (IMF, central banks, OECD, G-7 governments) that for 50 years have changed the tax legislation of all countries to reduce the taxation of agricultural, real estate, industrial, commercial, financial capital, and creating the conditions whereby the larger, more global and speculative businesses are, the less taxes they pay. They have allowed also the so-called “tax havens”, allowing multinational corporations to make you “disappear” every year a little thing like 250 billion in profits – and increasing exponentially, everywhere, the state debt.
Now these male and female bosses are playing the part of the “repentant”, setting up – for 2023 or 2024 – a “super tax” on multinationals of 15%. In Italy a worker, a secretary, a bus driver pays at least 23% of their wages in Irpef (tax on personal income), and the average total levy on their wages is around 43%. The “supertax” (?!?) on Amazon, Google, Stellantis, Pfizer, Luxottica, Eni, Benetton, FedEx, etc. instead, it would be 15%… but – beware – only if their profits exceed 10% of turnover. So Amazon has said it is safe, and specialists in tax avoidance and evasion (so as Tremonti, ex-minister of economy) are at work everywhere to minimize the damage, if indeed the tax were to be introduced.
The farce has a target: male and female workers who sweat their lives, and have to face a present and a future that is increasingly full of precariousness, uncertainties and sacrifices. The great powers, who know that they are increasingly delegitimized by repetitive crises, by the criminal management of the pandemic (which has capitalist origins in all its aspects), by the unprecedented polarization of social wealth, are trying to recover ground with this shameless staging: they, the guardians, the servants of the capitalists, disguise themselves today – oh yes! – as passionate lovers of “social justice”.
That it is a farce is also proved by the tax program of the Draghi government made of the abolition of IRAP (in favor of companies), easing the levy on financial income (in favor of the gnomes of finance), no changes to the land registry (great gift to building owners). And if by chance the farce does not succeed in taking the public for a ride, down a beating with the state and private police forces.
Young people, workers, workers of the “tide”,
the story of the global tax authorities that for 50 years has been detaxing parasites of all reams, and burdening those who earn their living with their work with tax burdens, is only one aspect of a social system which is leading us towards a chain of ecological, health, economic, social, war (just think of the 70 years of ruthless war against the Palestinians) disasters, of which we are only seeing the first signs.
We will not be able to stop this course of global capitalism with petitions, appeals, prayers that the G-7 and the G-20 become wise and just, changing their nature and function. The only possibility we have is to organize ourselves, to fight together, without fear, against the great powers responsible for the exploitation of human labor, wars, the plundering of nature, pollution, all forms of social inequality, racism, and taking the fight to the end. Either they win, or we win: there is no third way. And the next appointment here in Italy is the great general strike against the bosses, the Draghi government and the European Union, in the autumn!
Standing Committee against wars and racism
piazza Radaelli 3, Marghera
comitatopermanente@gmail.com – http://www.ilpungolorosso
pungolorosso.wordpress.com 