Taxation without representation is tyranny
We used to have a form of taxation in this country called the Road Fund Licence. Created in 1920, it was designed to fund the building and maintenance of roads. Funnily enough. It became clear that it was going to do no such thing; the tax built up a surplus that went into other government expenditure. Winston Churchill had a visceral hatred of hypothecated taxation, believing that it was an affront to the sovereignty of Parliament. During a debate, he said.
It will be only a step from this for them to claim in a few years the moral ownership of the roads their contributions have created.
Whoah! Hold on a minute, Winston. Did you mean that the idea that the taxes we pay give us some say in how they are spent, is an aberration and an egregious exercise of the power of the people?
Churchill was a patrician politician in a patrician world. They were born to lead and we were there to follow. In the context of his time it was probably for the best, for not all people were educated or informed. The concept of literacy did not exist. The idea of parents as educators was barely existent even into the 1950s - it was seen as the exclusive domain of the teacher. When Tyndale’s English language Bible came along in the 1530s, barely 25% of the male population would have been able to read it. Class division slewed the statistics until well into the 20th Century: Of the generation born between 1910 and 1929, only 14.7 per cent of boys and 12.2 per cent of girls attended a secondary school of any kind, while only an elite 1.7 per cent went to university.
Churchill’s War Cabinet consisted, almost entirely, of men drawn from wealthy families who had attended public schools and, usually Oxford, University: Attlee (Hailybury/Oxford) Chamberlain (Rugby/Mason (later Birmingham) Halifax (Eton/Oxford) Eden (Eton/Oxford) etc. etc.
These people were not only born to rule, they accepted that this was their destiny, in a world where the majority of the population could barely imagine what was beyond its back garden. What information they did get was the preserve of the all-powerful newspaper barons, one of whom joined the war Cabinet. His name was “Max” Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express, which at that time was the largest circulation newspaper in the world.
For the purposes of this article, we have to imagine a world of the 1930s in which it was accepted that there were those who ruled and those who were ruled. It was a world where the interface between a hard working life and the greater polity was your family doctor (if you could afford one), The Church, the pub and probably the Daily Express. Unemployment rates were high - over 22% in 1933.. A working class person had little chance of access to higher education and self-knowledge. The worst thing about their lot in life, and the concomitant relation between the leaders and the led, is that they were barely aware that there was a problem. This is the context, I think, in which to view the current relationship we have with our leaders, since they inherited, for want of a better word, a mindset in which we were, until relatively recently, quite content to let them get on with it. This state of affairs continued at least until Harold Wilson - (This will not affect the pound in your pocket), if not beyond Wilson, to Heath - (There are some in this country who fear that, in going into Europe, we shall in some way sacrifice independence and sovereignty. These fears, I need hardly say, are completely unjustified) and curiously to Margaret Thatcher, who in this light was something of a throwback to Churchill, at least in terms of Victorian Values - something Mrs Thatcher did not deny;
Those were the values when our country became great, but not only did our country become great internationally, also much advance was made in this country. Colossal advance, as people prospered themselves, so they gave great voluntary things to the State. So many of the schools we replace now were voluntary schools, so many of the hospitals we replace were hospitals given by this great benefaction feeling that we have in Britain, even some of the prisons, the Town Halls. As our people prospered, so they used their independence and initiative to prosper others, not compulsion by the State. Yes, I want to see one nation, as you go back to Victorian times, but I want everyone to have their own personal property stake. Property, every single one in this country, that’s why we go so hard for owner-occupation, this is where we’re going to get one nation. I want them to have their own savings which retain their value, so they can pass things onto their children, so you get again a people, everyone strong and independent of Government, as well as a fundamental safety net below which no-one can fall. Winston Churchill put it best. You want a ladder, upwards, anyone, no matter what their background, can climb, but a fundamental safety net below which no-one can fall. That’s the British character. (Margaret Thatcher, January 1983)
Overall taxation actually increased during Thatcher’s period of leadership up until January 1983 from 36%; to 39½%.
It’s easy to quote out of context, but what struck me about Wilson, Heath and Thatcher is that the things Wilson and Heath are remembered for are outright lies and that Thatcher, - Although I thought she was wrong, she said what she meant and meant what she said. It was not about style with her; it was substance - Tony Benn, in April of 2013 - was a conviction politician.
So when we buy a car, we pay 20% VAT. VAT, born 1973, the son of Purchase Tax (1940 -1973) You get your average family car, for the sake of my maths, £30,000. £6,000 goes straight to the Exchequer. Vehicle Excise Duty varies widely, but most pay some. (For some reason, my 2015, 2 litre choking, child-killing-with-fumes diesel VW Beetle was charged at £30 a year and my 2022, 1.5 litre cruelty free, touchy feely, green as the grass Hybrid is £170 pounds a year.) There is now no pretence that this money goes on roads and apparently no logic to what we are charged, other than what they can get away with.
Fuel Duty is currently around 53 pence a litre and VAT is charged both on the fuel and the Fuel Duty. A tax on a tax, that is already money that has been taxed at source. (For overseas readers, you are talking between £50 and £70 to propel a car for about 500 miles.)
You might remember at this point, the year 1765. I know that some of you were alive then. It was the year that our Colonial friends declared, “No Taxation without Representation” The Yanks can be trusted come up with a pity aphorism now and again.
“taxation without representation is tyranny” (James Otis)
I have chosen to use the car as an example of the way money is taken from us to fund...anything a Government wants to. Indeed, to paraphrase Churchill, if we delve too far into the ways we are taxed and what that money is spent on, we might start claiming moral ownership of our Government and its appointees. Or, in this instance, what kind of cars we want to drive. Heaven forbid.
As it happens, Hunt (the current British Chancellor of the Exchequer) is expected to extend for a further one year a “temporary” 5p-a-litre fuel duty cut and again scrap an inflation-linked rise in the levy, according to government insiders (ft.com) This and a 2 pence in the pound cut in the basic rate of income tax.
What about representation? The Americans of 1765 were complaining, quite reasonably, that the people of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons in Great-Britain.
But are we?
We very nearly lost the will of the majority over Brexit. Parliament did its best to thwart that.
We have lost control of our boundaries and allow illegal migrants to play the system like a Stradivarius.
We are allowing members of a “certain community” to terrorise and bully law-abiding citizens, rig elections and subjugate women and other minorities.
We have allowed a Left-Wing elite to become the Stasi of our Educational Institutions, our Museums, and our Heritage and our language.
Poor people are sent to prison for not paying a TV tax.
Failure to support our armed forces.
All of this and more could have been challenged and changed under Tory Rule.
It hasn’t. My deepest hope for the next General Election is that we will see a return to people of vision and integrity, who fully understand that they represent our wishes and our moral values - that of the majority - the people who pay their taxes, and quite unreasonably expect to be payed more than lip service. The next Budget will be a combination of pre-election sweeteners and flicking the mirrors. We will not end up paying less tax.
There is a danger that our frangible link with the future and security of this country will be lost forever. I see no present evidence to the contrary. The last Polish election was touted as the last ‘free’ election. Democracies all over Europe are in a severely moribund state. They neither listen to their electorate or understand the clear and present dangers.
The failure of our politicians is primarily one of vision and conviction. Name me one who has it? You’ll have trouble.