Alanna, I meant to write you but have been ill for a couple of days. I
was going to ask you to post your long piece from the DR, before I did
unsub you. Perhaps you'll do that anyway: I thought it was important
testimony.
best wishes
Mark
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
> Alanna Hartzok
> Sent: 13 October 2000 18:54
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [CrashList] *?!*/�??//�����!!!\\|\��|//???**
>
>
>
> NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!
>
> I have asked to be taken off of this list and I see that I
> am STILL ON.
>
> FYI, there is an approach BEYOND MARXISM AND MONOPOLY
> CAPITALISM and
> BEYOND the MEGA-Intellectualizing about surplus value -
> WHICH BELONGS TO
> EVERYONE!!! - wealth produced by labor as PRIVATE
> property - take off all
> taxes , for wealth produced by NATURE (GOD??? GASP!!!)
> "natural capital" -
> collect natural resource value (land sites oil, mineral,
> satellite orbital
> zones, electromagnetic spectrum, etc. (economic rent) for
> ALL as common
> heritage RIGHT. (Current monopoly capitalism is mega-rent
> seeking for
> private profits.)
>
> Capital can have no monopoly power if access to land and
> resources is
> secured as a natural and democratic right for ALL because
> labor can say to
> capital: TAKE THIS BORING degrading JOB AND SHOVE IT!!
> MOTHER EARTH PROVIDES
> THE RESOURCES OF LIFE, NOT YOU GREEDY PIGS! (Labor on land
> is primary -
> capital secondary - always has been, always will be, even
> in information
> age.)
>
> This advocated by Thomas Paine, Leo Tolstoy, Karl Marx,
> Adam Smith, Henry
> George (the master, buried by NeoLiberals but awakening
> from the grave), the
> Physiocrats before the French Revolution, Sun Yat Sen
> (Three Principles of
> the People), Winston Churchill, Ralph Nader, etc. etc. all
> have endorsed
> this approach - even Helen Keller, who could not see or
> hear. PLUS SEVEN
> Nobel Prize Winners in Economics and letter signed by 22
> economists to
> Gorbachev recommending this approach.
>
> If you want to work with me/us for this, please be in
> touch. And PLEASE get
> me off this infernal list because I am FEELING quite
> impatient with you
> guys. Something about Rome burning, fiddles playing.
>
>
> A Green Tax Shift Policy Approach To
> Financing Local-To-Global Public Goods
>
> Hector Sandler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Argentina
> Rashmi Mayur [EMAIL PROTECTED] India
> Tatiana Roskoshnaya [EMAIL PROTECTED] Russia
> Alanna Hartzok [EMAIL PROTECTED] USA
>
> There is a troublesome and painful contradiction in the
> lives of many of us
> who are working for peace, justice, poverty eradication,
> debt cancellation
> and sustainable development. While our hearts and minds
> focus on building a
> better world for everyone, each day we hand over fistfuls
> of dollars to
> build weapons of mass destruction, fuel dangerous, dirty
> and polluting
> technologies, and subsidize huge conglomerates which
> concentrate the wealth
> of the world in the control of the few. But together we can
> end tax tyranny
> and align our visions and values with how we finance our
> governments.
>
> Taxation not only raises money to fund government services,
> it also reflects
> the overall value system of a society. The goal of green
> tax policy is to
> create a system of public finance which strengthens and
> maximize incentives
> for:
>
> * Fair distribution of wealth
> * Environmental protection
> * Basic needs production
> * Provision of adequate government services
> * Peaceful resolution of territorial conflicts
>
> Green tax reform makes a clear distinction between private
> property and
> common property. Private property is that which is created
> by labor. Common
> property is that which is provided by nature. Green tax
> policy removes taxes
> from wages and other private property and increases taxes
> and user fees on
> common property. Reducing taxes on labor increases
> purchasing capacity,
> reducing taxes on capital encourages efficiency. Shifting
> taxes to land and
> resources curbs speculation and private profiteering in our
> common property
> and is a practical way to conserve and fairly share the earth.
>
> Captured in brief soundbites, tax waste, not work; tax
> bads, not goods; pay
> for what you take, not what you make; and polluter pays
> become tax shift
> principles readily translated into voter friendly policy
> recommendations
> with broadbased political support.
>
> Green tax policy CUTS taxes on:
> * Wages and earned income
> * Productive and sustainable capital
> * Sales, especially for basic necessities
> * Homes and other buildings
>
> Green tax policy INCREASES taxes and fees on:
> * Land sites according to land value
> * Lands used for timber, grazing, mining
> * Emissions into air, water, or soil
> * Ocean and freshwater resources
> * Electromagnetic spectrum
> * Satellite orbital zones
> * Oil and minerals
>
> Green tax policy seeks to ELIMINATE subsidies
> environmentally or socially
> harmful, unnecessary, or inequitable. Slated for drastic
> reduction or
> complete removal are subsidies for:
> * Energy production
> * Resource extraction
> * Commerce and industry
> * Agriculture and forestry
> * Weapons of mass destruction
>
>
> LOCAL-TO-GLOBAL PUBLIC FINANCE TIERS
>
> Non-governmental organizations like Global Education
> Associates and others
> working for a more peaceful and just world ask us to
> imagine the shape of
> the emerging world as a pyramid with three basic levels: a
> small tier at the
> top for global institutions, a greatly slimmed down second
> band of national
> governments, and a vast sturdy base of local governance.
> Green tax reform could become a comprehensive and
> universally accepted
> approach to public finance policy that can readily be
> integrated into such a
> three-tier system of local-to-global governance.
> Percentages of total
> resource revenues collected could be disbursed up or down
> these tiers based
> on criteria of equity, as some nations and regions of the
> earth are better
> endowed with natural resources than others. Freedom to live
> or work in any
> part of the globe would also further equality of
> entitlement to the planet.
> Appropriate tax bases to fund cities, regions, states and
> global levels can
> be delineated as follows:
>
> LOCAL:
>
> Surface land values, such as sites for homes, businesses
> and industrial
> activities, are well-suited to finance cities and towns.
> Progressively
> shifting taxes OFF OF productive efforts such as building
> homes, working and
> organizing businesses, and ON TO land site values prevents
> land speculation
> and monopoly, thus keeping land affordable while at the
> same time enabling
> workers to keep what they have earned. This type of green
> tax shift also
> would be recommended for rural areas where it has potential
> for non-coercive
> land reform which could underpin the transition to organic
> farming and a
> revitalized rural 'eco-village' culture.
>
> REGIONAL:
>
> State, regional, or national bodies may be best constituted
> to collect user
> fees for forestry, mineral, oil and water resources.
> Precise configurations
> for the allocation of resource rentals between state,
> regional and federal
> levels would vary according to the situation of particular nations.
>
> GLOBAL:
>
> Urgently needed is the establishment of a Global Resource
> Agency to collect
> user fees for transnational commons. This would include
> parking charges for
> satellites placed in geostationary orbits, royalties on
> minerals mined or
> fish caught in international waters and use of the
> electromagnetic spectrum.
> Other significant global revenue sources are taxes or fees
> based on the
> polluter-pay principle, such as international flights or
> aviation fuel,
> international shipping, or dumping at sea. A tax on
> currency speculation has
> also been proposed. To be considered is whether
> international arms trading
> should be heavily taxed or completely abolished.
> The Global Resource Agency could also be responsible for
> monitoring the
> global commons (e.g., the ozone shield, forest reserves, fish,
> biodiversity), determining rules for access, issuing
> permits and collecting
> resource revenues. Such a body could also assume
> substantial authority for
> levying fines and penalties for the abuse of common
> heritage resources.
> Revenues raised from access fees for the use of global
> commons could fund
> sustainable development programs, environmental
> restoration, peacekeeping
> activities, or low interest loans for poverty eradication.
> Funds are also
> needed on the global level to finance justice institutions
> such as the World
> Court and the International Criminal Court and to facilitate policy
> convergence in areas such as trade, currency exchange, and
> human rights.
> The Global Resource Agency could be mandated to distribute
> resource revenues
> equitably throughout the world as calculated by formulas based on
> population, development criteria and currency purchasing capacity.
>
> THE EARTH BELONGS TO EVERYONE
>
> It is simplistic to view the world as being divided between
> the rich North
> and the poor South. In the North are significant numbers of
> people living in
> poverty and despair, while in the South are those with the riches of
> royalty. The systemic problem of the maldistribution of
> wealth is a global
> phenomenon. Taxes structured along the proposed lines would
> do much to level
> the economic playing field worldwide, both within and among
> nations. A
> coherent and integrated local-to-global green public
> finance system would
> fundamentally alter the status quo and give every person a
> stake in the
> planet as a birthright. With basic needs securely met for
> all, humankind
> would be free to advance to a higher dimension of expression and
> realization.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> This policy paper is one of many being developed for a
> Global Peoples
> Agenda.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> PLEASE FILL OUT THIS ENDORSEMENTS AND COMMENTS FORM
>
>
> Name:
> Organization:
> Address:
> Phone:
> Fax:
> Email:
>
> Please mark your response with one of the four choices below:
>
>
> 1. I /we endorse this policy approach and have these
> comments to make:
>
>
>
> 2. I/we endorse this policy approach and suggest the
> following changes:
>
>
>
> 3. I/we cannot endorse this policy approach unless the
> following changes
> are made:
>
>
>
> 4. I/we cannot endorse this policy approach for the
> following reason(s):
>
>
>
> Submit Form Clear Form
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> Note: Contents extracted from...
>
> "Financing Local to Global Public Goods: An Integrated
> Green Tax Shift
> Perspective,"
> A policy paper by Alanna Hartzok
> Presented at the Global Institute for Taxation Conference
> Sponsored by Price Waterhouse Coopers and St. John's University,
> New York, September 30, 1999
> And published in Taxation Alternatives for the 21st Century.
>
>
> The policy paper draws from the following:
> * The Natural Wealth of Nations, Worldwatch Institute,
> David Roodman;
> * Tax Shift, Northwest Environment Watch, Alan Durning &
> Yoram Bauman;
> * Taxed out of Work and Wealth, Nicolaus Tideman &
> Florenz Plassman;
> * An Inventory of Rent-Yielding Resources, Mason Gaffney;
> * The Losses of Nations, Institute for Land Policy, Fred
> Harrison;
> * A Citizens Guide to Environmental Tax Shifting,
> Friends of the Earth;
> * Global Public Goods, edited by Inge Kaul, Isabelle
> Grunberg, Marc A.
> Stern;
> * "Brazil: The Meek Want the Earth Now," Bulletin of the Atomic
> Scientists, Fabio L.S. Petrarolpha;
> * The United Nations: Policy and Financing Alternatives,
> edited by Harlan
> Cleveland, Hazel Henderson, Inge Kaul;
> * "UNDP at Crossroads," Earth Times, C. Gerald Fraser;
> * Planet Champions, Jack Yost;
> * UN Habitat II Action Agenda;
> * Third World Intervention: A New Analysis, David Smiley;
> * Factor 10 Club Carnoules Declaration, Wuppertal
> Institute and Overseas
> Development Institute, Michael Carley & Philippe Spapens;
> * Sharing the World, Anil Agarwal & Sunita Narain;
> * Privatizing Nature: Political Struggles for the Global
> Commons, Michael
> Goldman;
> * The Pollution Dividend, Peter Barnes;
> * How the Other Half Dies, Susan George;
> * Ecological Tax Reform, Hanno Beck in Land Value
> Taxation edited by
> Kenneth Wenzer;
> * Harnessing the Tax Code for Environmental Protection,
> State Tax Notes,
> J. Andrew Hoerner;
> * "Stateless Corporations: Lords of the Global Economy,"
> The Nation,
> Richard J. Barnet;
> * Tax Reform Follies, Dollars & Sense, Chuck Collins &
> John Miller;
> * "The Eagle Dies on Friday," Utne Reader, David Brauer;
> * Tax Waste Not Work, Redefining Progress, M. Jeff Hammond;
> * Benefits and Taxes, New Economics Foundation, James Robertson.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> Return to Documents Homepage
> Return to Earth Rights Homepage
>
> Last modified: 18 Sept 2000
>
> http://www.earthrights.net/docs/greentax.html
>
>
>
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