Taxes and laws are only for the little people

The “Queen of Mean”, the late billionaire Leona Helmsley, is reputed to have once said publicly that “we do not pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes”. Mind you, that was before she spent time in clink on tax evasion charges.

However, her comment stuck and it has subsequently been modified by others as in “the laws, like taxes, are for the little people”.

As we know only too well, both of these comments are applicable in this nation of ours. Over recent months, we’ve seen the statistics that show that those at the top, the well-heeled and the well-paid, have suffered a lot less on a proportional basis than those at the bottom of the food chain.

We also know how this Government, and the last, choose to protect the senior mandarins in the public sector from the impact of the cutbacks suffered both by the private sector and by other, lesser, beings in the public sector.

George Orwell must be rolling in his grave.

The final report of the Mahon Tribunal was released just over a month ago. Its contents had been telegraphed for a long time. There were no surprises.

We already knew who had been naughty and who had been nice, even who had been well looked after. The report just confirmed our suspicions. Other tribunals have preceded it and issued their equally damning reports. Has anybody other than minor functionaries or scapegoats had their collar felt? The answer is a resounding no.

Has anybody mentioned in “less than glowing terms” in any of the reports ever suffered any negative approbation for their offences? Once again the answer is a resounding no. Indeed, some of them are welcomed publicly at the highest levels and photographed to ensure we are aware.

At this stage, George Orwell is standing on his head.

There is very much wrong with the US and there is much good with it also.

One of the better things is how quickly they deal with major issues of public concern, among can be numbered the banking crisis, Enron, and even BP and the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened over a three-month period at the start of 2010. Yet the courts quickly decided where the blame lay and compensation has already been agreed and is now being divvied up, less than two years after the event. In this incestuous isle of ours, we would still be wondering if anything actually happened and/or if we should do something about it.

If we were acting like an ostrich hiding our heads in the sand in the hope that it would go away it would be one thing, but we have a tendency to try to pretend that it never happened, or it was not serious, or “the law” prevents us from doing something.

Well, we know about the law. When we, the people, want it changed, it seems it’s impossible. When government or vested interests require a change, it can be done in a millisecond, as in changes to the pensions provisions for an ex minister.

Other countries take a different view. In Iceland, the new government felt that decisions made, or decisions required but ignored by the previous government, contributed significantly to the economic collapse that Iceland experienced. Supported by the people of Iceland, they decided to take a case against the former prime minister. There were three charges brought and the ex-PM was only found guilty of the most minor charge with no punishment recommended.

Sure, he was not found guilty of the major charges, and he felt that was ample reason for him to come strutting out of the court like a peacock in a mating ritual. His release was described as a “fool’s pardon”.

However, the lesson is that there was an attempt to do something. We would rather sit back and do nothing, all the while making the people of this country more and more cynical and looking at everything on the basis of “what’s in it for me”. That sure as hell ain’t the way to get us out of this economic dilemma.

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