Comments on: Slovakia: Vote against (neo)liberal reforms http://polemics.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/slovakia-vote-against-neoliberal-reforms/ Space for political analysis and critical thought on the go Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:50:21 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: polemics http://polemics.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/slovakia-vote-against-neoliberal-reforms/#comment-647 polemics Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:22:46 +0000 https://polemics.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/slovakia-vote-against-neoliberal-reforms/#comment-647 Thanks for your comment, John. I agree, there have been calculations on how high a flat tax should be in order to sustain a certain level of public funding (of services) - and these in welfare systems like Finland would imply that the tax ought indeed be very high. Indeed, social democracy was a RESPONSE to the socialist system created basically out of the fear of the calls for an actually existing socialist system and those for greater social justice in postwar Europe (a good read on this would be Tony Judt's Postwar). Nevertheless, let me stress again the relation between communist economic system and the postcommunist turn to neo-liberalism. The individualism inherent in those two systems - and the sense of equality as the (finally very uneven) equality under the state power rather than actual sharing and redistribution are very similar. They therefore set those two systems apart from the social or christian democratic ones. In this piece I did not seek to explore flat-tax systems as such. My main argument here has been that IF taxation models are not related to notions of equality, fairness and so on, which are value judgements rather than scientific truths, they are in fact very simplistic. Thanks for your comment, John. I agree, there have been calculations on how high a flat tax should be in order to sustain a certain level of public funding (of services) – and these in welfare systems like Finland would imply that the tax ought indeed be very high.
Indeed, social democracy was a RESPONSE to the socialist system created basically out of the fear of the calls for an actually existing socialist system and those for greater social justice in postwar Europe (a good read on this would be Tony Judt’s Postwar).
Nevertheless, let me stress again the relation between communist economic system and the postcommunist turn to neo-liberalism. The individualism inherent in those two systems – and the sense of equality as the (finally very uneven) equality under the state power rather than actual sharing and redistribution are very similar. They therefore set those two systems apart from the social or christian democratic ones.
In this piece I did not seek to explore flat-tax systems as such. My main argument here has been that IF taxation models are not related to notions of equality, fairness and so on, which are value judgements rather than scientific truths, they are in fact very simplistic.

]]> By: John East http://polemics.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/slovakia-vote-against-neoliberal-reforms/#comment-642 John East Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:32:36 +0000 https://polemics.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/slovakia-vote-against-neoliberal-reforms/#comment-642 This is a rather simplistic assessment of flat taxation, the precise mechanics of which can vary hugely, and tends - like its advocates to confuse flat taxation with low taxation. In fact some flat tax states have quite high rates. Your remark that "neoliberal policies and the ethics of the flat-tax model can be seen already as an extension of the communists economic system" also makes little sense . It makes sense only in the sense that both are economistic and concerned with efficiency and productivity. In this sense, social democracy and social liberalism would also be "extensions of the communist system", Basically, it is a rather cheap throwaway remark, which doesn't really stand up to critical scrutiny. This is a rather simplistic assessment of flat taxation, the precise mechanics of which can vary hugely, and tends – like its advocates to confuse flat taxation with low taxation. In fact some flat tax states have quite high rates.

Your remark that “neoliberal policies and the ethics of the flat-tax model can be seen already as an extension of the communists economic system” also makes little sense . It makes sense only in the sense that both are economistic and concerned with efficiency and productivity. In this sense, social democracy and social liberalism would also be “extensions of the communist system”, Basically, it is a rather cheap throwaway remark, which doesn’t really stand up to critical scrutiny.

]]>