Abolish the Corporation Tax!!

I'm a little late putting this one on the blog, but here is my latest article in "The Grapevine" - this time it is on the corporation tax, and how it shouldn't be kept as it is, or reduced, but abolished entirely!

I get annoyed with the corporation tax for a number of reasons - in part because it is a tax that reeks of that annoying student mentality that thinks itself urban and trendy because it buys crap coffee from the local FairTrade stall as opposed to one of those evil Starbucks things with their good coffee and nice places to sit!  However, this article attempts to present the argument against the corporation tax on the basis of honesty and who it actually taxes.  It also takes on the idea that tax avoidance (as opposed to tax evasion) is a bad thing.

"Last week’s protests by UK Uncut at Barclays brought up the old chestnut of corporations and their supposed “duty” to jump various hurdles and pay certain taxes designed especially for them.

Groups such as UK Uncut believe that tax avoidance, practiced by corporations such as Barclays, is immoral. Accompanying that view is usually the opinion that the rate of corporation tax is too low. Both views are incorrect.

First, there is nothing immoral about avoiding tax. Tax evasion – that is the deliberate non-payment of tax legally owed – is of course illegal, and no-one is defending illegality even if one may criticise the law. Tax avoidance however, is not only legal, it also a natural and even a wise practice for any person or business to engage in. Tax avoidance is merely an attempt to limit the amount of tax that one needs to pay.

This may sound controversial but in reality it is not. Did the UKUncut crowd judge those shoppers who packed out stores in late December in order to avoid the VAT hike? Are they planning to blockade the coach and trucking companies that fill their tanks up abroad in order to pay less for petrol? If I am in America and choose to purchase a product in Texas instead of England due to the fact that there is no sales tax in Texas, should I be then subjected to a dishevelled crowd of students with poorly constructed signs blocking the entrance to my home?..."

The rest of the piece can be found here.

Cameron's Conservatives Must Fight or Die

From this week I will be writing a weekly column for "The Grapevine".  It is a website that brings together many authors from all over the political spectrum, and I will (of course) be offering a conservative/libertarian perspective to proceedings.

My first column is now up, entitled "Cameron's Conservatives Must Fight or Die".

David Cameron’s announcement last week that there will be no tax cuts in the near future will dismay those of us on the conservative right who are becoming increasingly dismayed at the betrayal of conservative principles, and the lack of conservative arguments coming from the Tory party.

Any conservative who advocates small government, low tax, Friedman economics will tell you that slashing taxes across the board will stimulate the private sector, create employment, attract prosperity from abroad, and will therefore increase the tax revenue. Therefore, for Mr Cameron to state that we “cannot afford” tax cuts is worrying, and indicates that he has bought into the left-wing narrative being spun by big government socialists such as Miliband, Balls and Cable that a tax cut is a gift given to the richest at the expense of the country at large. It also means that if there are no positive effects in decreasing taxes, then there are no negative effects increasing them either, and our left-wing friends are correct to want to keep income taxes high.

Additionally, any actual conservative policies that the Coalition have pushed have not been supported by the typical conservative arguments. The Tories have allowed the meagre 3% spending cuts to be presented by the left as “harsh” and “painful” instead of being welcomed as the necessary beginning to the dismantling of the freedom guzzling state apparatus set up by the previous Labour government....

The rest of the column can be found here.

Will 2011 be America's Year of Union Discontent?

My latest article has been published today in the American Thinker, and focuses on the fight for freedom from the socialist trade unions.  This is a fight we in Britain have been engaged in for a long time, and I believe that it is set to become the new fight that Americans have to face.

This has proved true looking at the recent chaos in New York caused by the deliberate slow down by union workers in order to force the New York legislature to agree to whatever demands they have come up with this time.  Unfortunately with Obama in the White House, it seems that the unions are only going to becomes more and more powerful, and this gives them only more of a chance to screw the country up.  Americans, trust us, they will screw your country up given half the chance - it is exactly what they did to our country, and are currently trying to do once again!

The article can be found here.

Britain's Left Are Panicking

My latest article in The American Thinker has been published and focuses upon the left-wing student riots. The article argues that increasing tuition fees threatens the left's hold over the University system in Britain, and therefore represents a real threat to their agenda.  It is for this reason that we have seen so much venom towards the government proposals.

As a PS, I should make reference to a criticism of the article that has popped up a few times  - that is that I am naive for believing that a small hike will remove the left-wing problem in universities.  This is not what the article is saying at all.  I am not saying that this will remove the problem, but that it will weaken the left's grip, as it will dissuade disinterested students not to come, and will result in students demanding greater quality from their lecturers.  As fees go up, as will quality.  That is all I am arguing, not that this latest hike has solved the many, many problems of the British university.  I hope this helps!

The Left's Terror Folly

My latest article in the American Thinker was out yesterday.  It focuses on the myth that Islamic anger is somehow isolated to American foreign policy.  This myth infects the policies of the Obama Administration and various European governments.  However it has been blown to pieces by the latest attempted terrorist attacks in Europe, which  targeted countries that did not follow Bush's foreign policy.  This has significance for the left's understanding of the future of foreign policy.

The article can be found here.

The Destructive Fair Trade Movement

My latest article for the American Thinker has come out.  I have been really busy over the last few months so my contributions to the Thinker have been few and far between.  Hopefully now my contributions will be a little more frequent.  I am already working on an article about Ed Miliband and Labour's lurch to the left.

Until then here is my latest article on the Fairtrade movement, and how it simply ends up making problems for those in developing countries worse, not better, despite the movements good intentions.

It can be found at American Thinker here.

Obama's Deadly Anti-British Agenda

Today, David Cameron and Barack Obama will meet to discuss various issues, including Afghanistan, Libya and the BP Oil Spill.  Obama is not known for being particularly pro-British (in fact, quite the opposite), and his administration has decimated the Special Relationship in less than two years.  This meeting is therefore crucial for the future of Anglo-American relations if such a relationship is to be salvaged.  My latest article in The American Thinker deals with this meeting within the context of Obama's anti-British prejudices.

It shows how Obama's anti-British agenda is deeply rooted - possibly stemming from his youth - and has infiltrated not just his own attitudes towards the British, but also the policies of the entire Obama administration.  Yet not only does this denigration of the Special Relationship hurt the British, it also has the potential to hurt the American public - by damaging the united stance against terrorism, and possibly limiting the British contribution to future American led conflicts.  Such an outcome would be a disaster for the Americans and for the British.  It must not be allowed to happen, and it is for this reason that this week's meeting is so important.

The article can be read here.

The Parade of Bleeding Stumps

Here in Great Britain, there has been  an Emergency Budget announced in order to cut public spending, which has been met with outrage from the British left.  In America, there are similar calls to cut public spending.  In my latest article in The American Thinker, I examine the implications that such calls have for the left and their strategy in preparation for the American November elections.

The article can be found here.