A Taxing Problem 01/19/2011
 

Our American “special friends” are stalking us like prey again – the US medical giant Johnson & Johnson are apparently trying to buy Hull-based Smith & Nephew for an estimated £7+ Billion, but the S & N board have been trying to keep this news quiet for some reason, despite Takeover Panel rules that require companies to keep investors informed of possible offers. Strange, that…..

If recent acquisitions by American companies are anything to go by, it will pan out something like this: a British bank bailed out by English taxpayers in 2008 will play the role of Judas and lend the Johnson gang the money – the Smith big-wigs will receive huge “golden goodbyes” - all production in England will be phased out and moved abroad - and finally the company will be re-registered in Switzerland where corporation tax is considerably lower than the 28% that the short-sighted British government insists on charging every company that wants to do business here. Everyone in England will suffer as another FTSE 100 company is swallowed up by global capitalists and moved abroad, along with all the revenue and employment it provided. Indeed, a steadily increasing number of British companies have already re-registered in Switzerland, and are saving millions in tax already.

Firstly, we see no sense in foreign companies being allowed to buy out profitable English companies, and English Radical policy would be to limit by law, any and all foreign holdings in English companies to 33%, to prevent these precious assets being stripped away from us. The only possible exception to that rule would be to rescue an English company in severe difficulties - and then only after the workforce had been given the opportunity to buy the company and run it themselves and the Government has considered purchasing a 'Golden Share' to keep the company in business and majority ownership in English hands.

Secondly, the 28% Corporation Tax – a tax on net profits – ensures that British and English companies will always struggle to compete against companies that use cheap labour. So, if you can't  match the labour costs, then you must reduce the tax overhead to attract investment. The English Radicals believe that all taxes on home grown income and profits should be lowered to encourage initiative and productivity (as long as that income and profit stays in England) - whether they be company profits, share dividend payments or worker’s pay -while taxes on consumption should be increased, especially on foreign made goods and services – these twin measures would encourage English production and jobs on the one hand, and encourage people to consume fewer imported products. We've said it before and we'll say it again: England is a massive market of fifty million people – if you want to sell here, make here. You bring the jobs, and we'll buy your products.

Thirdly. why do governments feel the need to charge such high rates of corporation tax in the first place? Because they need revenue like a junkie needs a fix, due to their inefficient, bloated, centralised nature. The “bigger” the government (as in dictatorial and controlling), the bigger the fix has to be. China's corporation tax is 30% - their government controls every aspect of Chinese life, and even in China that level of “big brother” control doesn't come cheap. So, if the British government could get used to the idea of taking a smaller role, and allow local government at county/regional level to take on more responsibilities, they could get by with much less money.

It is also interesting to note that EU aid to Ireland has been conditional on them raising their Corporation Tax rate from 12.5%, one of the lowest in the EU – whilst French, and German (if you add the national and local taxes together) corporation taxes are currently over 30%. Ironic and sad that Ireland fought so hard to gain independence from the chinless British aristocracy, only to have their sovereignty stolen by faceless European bankers a few decades later.

We are no lovers of global capitalism, but we are pro-business – and if we want to attract manufacturing (and therefore wealth creation) back to England, there has to be something in it for the manufacturer. These are our proposals:

Imported products into Britain/England from nations with whom we have large trade deficits to be taxed more heavily than at present. This would limit the present advantage of global capitalists producing in low paid sweatshop economies, and exporting to higher wage economies like our own. We are happy to trade with other nations, but there must be more balance.

Central government to keep 33% of this taxation revenue, the other 67% to be shared out fairly amongst the devolved local county/regional authorities of England.

Foreign owned companies producing in England (eg, Nissan) to pay only 20% CT. (split 50/50 between that local area and national government).

English owned companies producing in England to pay only 10% CT. (split 50/50 between that local area and national government).

English co-operatives producing in England to be exempt from CT altogether.

A tax regime such as the one we propose would once again make it viable for both home grown and foreign companies to set up shop here. Critics may argue that these proposals would result in less corporation tax revenue - but the British government is driving away tax paying businesses altogether, by charging more than it should! Imagine the British government as a landlord whose tenants have discovered cheaper rooms across the road – the Tory's beloved “free market” dictates that in such an event you should drop your rents to compete, or face having no rental income at all.  Which is better - some corporation tax and more employment, or no corporation tax and mass unemployment?
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Our ancestors were able to make money in trading, because of one secret – everyone is different. Different peoples and regions, had their own food, drink, clothes, art and raw materials. Some were liked and became world famous, some fell out of favour and exist in history books. The whole system worked because of those differences.

In today's corporate homogenised world, the very things that made areas famous has been diluted and prostituted for profit. We now get Cheddar cheese made in Italy, Scotch whisky made in Japan and China. Goods designed here, but made in China because our highly inventive engineers cost too much. For the corporation, cost and profit are all that matters, humanity and difference means nothing without a bottom line. Difference today decides on whether to go skiing or scuba diving, it's geographical not human.

Yet looking at this kind of world, don't you feel like something is missing? People cheapened because they're different, be it colour, religion, sex or disability. Nobody is above anyone else, nobody should have special laws to protect them, why can't we rely on a basic humanity instead?

People are ground down and used up in the name of profit, highly experienced and skilled people worth less than cheap foreign labour. People disabled fighting for their country are worth less than someone who inherits money and has no personal merits, where clique is worth more than custom, and where basic decency is of no value.

That is the England we have today, it's being made worse by a corrupt party politics. Most parties can't be told apart in the House of Commons, politicians are being given money by foreign powers or corporations to buy favour, yet the democratic votes of the English people are cheapened by such corruption. We are told we're all the same, but we'll give other partly autonomous parts of the UK more than you get, based on some spurious claims made over 30 years ago.

Why can't people buy Cheddar cheese from Cheddar? Why can't we buy local produce that hasn't travelled thousands of miles? Why can't skilled people be paid what they're worth? The answer right now is because our politicians have sold out to the corporation lifestyle, they have formed a class of their own based on how you were born, what school tie you wear and how much you inherited. If I didn't know better I'd think I was in 1020 AD not 2010 AD.
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THE ENEMY WITHIN 07/30/2010
 
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When people consider ‘an enemy within’ many think of Islamic extremists that seek to abolish traditional English or Christian customs and impose Sharia law. This is true, such people do pose a very serious threat to English culture. Others may think of left wing or right wing extremists, or those that exploit the benefits and taxation system. To some such people also pose a serious threat to the wellbeing of the country. However there exists another enemy within that is a threat to us all. In appearance you would think this enemy was a pillar of society and an almost perfect Englishman or woman. You would think these people were successful business people, helping to turn the wheels of English industry and creating employment for English citizens. However, you could not be further from the truth and such appearances are very deceptive.

This respectable looking ‘enemy within’ cares very little for England or the people of England. What they do care about is the size of their bank balance. To increase the size of their bank balance they will employ the cheapest available labour who will tolerate the poorest conditions. In most cases this will not be workers of English culture or those that have adapted to English culture, it will be economic migrant labour and in some circumstances even illegal immigrants.

It can be argued that this still helps to keep the wheels of English industry turning, albeit with English workers paying the price. However another practice of this enemy within is to actually relocate whole companies overseas or start businesses in the lands of cheap labour. This has no benefit to the English economy whatsoever. Such practices not only deny the workers of England employment it is virtually taking food out of their mouths. These people are far from pillars of society, they are nothing less than economic traitors.

The English Radical vision is for business and industry to work for the greater good of the country and its people. It should provide economic prosperity for the nation and employment, decent wages and conditions for workers. It should be a fair deal all round. In reality, what we have in many circumstances is the exact opposite with unscrupulous economic traitors ripping off the people and the country. Yet the most annoying thing about this is the fact successive Labour and Tory governments have allowed and encouraged this to happen. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the present Con-Dem coalition seem set to continue this practice. Read between the lines of David Cameron’s recent visit to India and you will see he has helped to oil the wheels of Indian industry, whilst merely wiping those of England with an oily rag.

In this current uneven economic playing field, what chance of long term success has any decent business person that wishes to establish a company in England, employ local labour and offer decent pay and conditions? What chance has the ordinary honest working man or woman when he or she is forced to compete against cheap overseas labour? The capitalist system allows companies to relocate abroad or drive wages and conditions down to obtain further profits.  Even if this causes unemployment and social hardships, the ordinary working man and woman or decent patriotic business person will bear the cost to satisfy the profit margins of the economic traitors.

There needs to be a radical approach in order to rectify this situation. However we must never forget what we are dealing with is ‘economic traitors’ who care little for our country and its people. In a new, radical England measures would be introduced to prevent the exodus of companies to ‘the lands of cheap labour’. If a company wishes to relocate it would have to pay its workers a lump sum equivalent to one years pay (on top of any redundancies). This would provide a financial cushion for the workforce and give them the available finance to start their own business if they wish. The sale of the companies premises would be offered first to the workforce at a substantially reduced rate, should they wish to take over and run the business as a co-operative. Favourable financial conditions and training would be made available for newly established co-operatives in a bid to help them succeed. Finally the relocated company would find that it faces stiff import controls of its products into England. Ultimately, an ideal solution would be if someone wishes to relocate their business abroad, let them also surrender their English passport, emigrate to the lands of cheap labour themselves and become a national of that country. England does not need economic traitors.

Economically we also need to address the large multi-national concerns that dominate business and drive smaller companies to the wall. The tide needs to be turned to favour smaller, local and regionalised economies rather than those dictated to us by the multi-nationals. But we have to make sure our future, the smaller businesses of England, stay in England and provide employment for local workforces. England has to deal with its enemies within. If we fail to deal with the economic enemies within our shores we shall continue to fail. We cannot afford decade after decade of governments allowing multi-nationals to run our country and our smaller businesses to relocate abroad. There needs to be a radical solution which involves education, training and economic protectionism.  The English Radical Alliance is the only party that is brave enough to offer that solution.




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The English Radicals, whilst being concerned with politics, also keep watch on other matters, and an issue that hits a raw nerve with us is the situation that two of the biggest clubs in the English Premier league – Manchester United and Liverpool – find themselves in: namely, being foreign owned and in debt because of it. The predicament of these clubs is a microcosm of English business as a whole, so we thought it worthwhile to highlight the similarities, and offer radical solutions.

THE PROBLEM
Both clubs were financially solvent before their respective takeovers, in fact Manchester United was a successful PLC listed on the London Stock Exchange before the £800 million sell off to the Glazer family. The lure of big profits was too much for corporate America to resist, and so bought both clubs out with high interest loans from big city institutions like JP Morgan and the Rothschilds (United) and in the case of Liverpool, RBS. RBS have form when it comes to doing the dirty on English businesses: They were bailed out by English taxpayers in 2008, but shortly after went on to fund the American Kraft takeover of profitable English firm, Cadbury, and will be shifting production to eastern Europe, destroying English jobs. Thanks, RBS. 

What is interesting is the defiance shown by the two sets of fans, and the way they are choosing to show it. Many United fans now wear the green and gold of Newton Heath (the amateur team that went on to become United), rather than the red and white associated with the modern team. Not only is this a very visible signal to the world of their rebellion, it also deprives the Glazers of valuable merchandise revenue, thus negating one of the reasons for buying the club in the first place.

Some Liverpool supporters have formed the “Spirit of Shankly” group, who are very vociferous in their opposition to the current owners, Hicks and Gillette. S.O.S. have recently proposed to start a credit union, with the eventual intention of raising sufficient funds to buy out the club from the present owners.

THE SOLUTION
Can there really be any argument now, that a team’s loyal fans would not be better custodians than greedy, clueless American businessmen? Both clubs have massive fan bases the world over, so as many fans as possible should be given the chance to become shareholders and part owners, not the corporations or business men. United were once owned by shareholders, there is no reason why they, or Liverpool, could not be again. True fans would not sell their shares every time a Cup win boosted the share price, nor would they sell if the share price dropped on a bad league run. This means each club would have solid, reliable, and most importantly debt free, funding in place. 

Never again must a profitable English club - or any profitable English business like Cadbury's for that matter - be driven into debt to satisfy the money lust of inter- national financiers or foreign interests. Ensuring that club ownership is spread over as wide a group as possible (the fans), is Distributism in action, and acts as a safeguard against speculators, who merely wish to buy and sell shares for short term financial gain.  

THE PRACTICE
Unlike socialists, we believe in widespread share ownership – businesses need capital to make profits, and profitable companies provide dividend income for shareholders, a win/win situation for both parties. But in the modern world of electronic trading, shares are bought and sold in a heartbeat by people with no real interest or connection to a company, but purely because of an insider tip, or a favourable chart pattern. This perverts the whole principle of share ownership from one of investment, to one of speculation. There has to be a step back from the present system – you should still be able to buy and sell shares - just not at light speed. And, if people had to have actual physical ownership of a share certificate before they could sell it, this would take much of the crazy “day trader/short seller/speculator” mentality out of the markets. 

The practice of allowing fans to buy into their club, is one that should be extended to all areas of English commerce: all employees of English PLC's should by law have access to “sharesave” schemes, or opt to be given shares in lieu of payment, with income tax to be paid only on the sale of said shares. And like the football fans, it is unlikely that people with own the company they work for will be tempted to sell to outsiders, for fear of takeover.

The English Radical Alliance would fight for this right, because it gradually transfers ownership back to the employees, protecting their company from greedy predators whilst giving them a greater say in how their company is run. Here's a thought to leave you with: if BA was wholly employee owned - a co-operative - they would not need Willie Walsh at £180,000 a year to “streamline” the business, and the cabin crew would probably not be on strike – why would you strike, if you were effectively self employed? The Distributist policy of employee ownership cuts out the capitalist “profit at all costs” money lenders, and the need for militant trade unionism. Doesn't that sound better than the present system?


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The British government, through its mouthpiece Mike O'Brien (Health Minister – no, I'd never heard of him either) is apologising to the victims of Thalidomide for the pain and suffering caused to them by its prescription to their mothers fifty years ago. This is shortly after the British government apologising for the slave trade of over 200 years ago – what's next? The Bubonic Plague? The Crusades? The Norman conquest?

Quite apart from the lesson that governments and the medical profession are often mistaken in their judgements about the safety of drugs and “terror diseases” like Swine Flu, the English Radicals ask: why apologise for something you HAVEN'T done, when there are a hundred things you SHOULD apologise for? For instance:

The thousands of British, Iraqi and Afghan dead, as a result of our devotion to America and their desire to control Iraqi oil and the Afghan poppy crop?

The thousands of English “A” level students who won't get a University place next year, because the British government would sooner fund war in Afghanistan than education?

Our continued membership of the EU, when the majority of English people want out?

Labour’s refusal to have referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, an election manifesto pledge?
 
The scandalous taxation on private pensions, while the cost of taxpayer-funded public sector pensions is going through the roof?

The 88 year old English war hero Spitfire pilot John Mejor, forced to sell his home and make his elderly wife homeless, to pay for his medical care?

The Mosedale family returning to their Tottenham home to find it full of Romanian “asylum” seekers, who have a “tenancy agreement” from a scam merchant, and so cannot be evicted?

The fishermen of England, who watch European super trawlers steal their catch every day and ship it straight to Europe?
 
The coal miners of England, who, unarmed, were forced to face police cavalry to try and save their industry after Scargill and Thatcher decided to have a class war?

The car makers of England, watching their factories being dismantled and shipped to China?

The steel makers of England, as they watch their Teesside steel mill mothballed?

The people of England are facing the same fate as the American Indian – a proud, brave race forced into reservations (council estates) their buffalo (jobs) all gone, with only “fire water” (coke and smack) to dull the pain of their existence, with little prospect of breaking the cycle of despair. That's why we are radicals: we can see the problems, and we have the answers. 

ARE YOU BRAVE ENOUGH TO FOLLOW US? 

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ONE STAR THAT WILL BE SHINING THIS CHRISTMAS
The English Radicals would like to offer their congratulations and best wishes to the new owners of the Star Inn in Broughton, Greater Manchester – the local community who scraped together £80,000 to buy it off the brewery at auction. No mean feat in these difficult times, but they are not the first to do this. That honour goes to the Old Crown pub in Cumbria, which was bought by a consortium of local residents in 2003, and is still thriving today.

This is exactly the type of effort which we, as Distributists, applaud: the Star may have closed for good, like so many others up and down England, but the locals who use it now own it, and it will  presumably be a “free house” – meaning they can buy their beer cheaply from competitive local sources, instead of being forced to buy ale from a “tied” mega brewery, often at inflated prices.

Although pubs are probably ideal for this type of community buyout, we hope to see this practice expand to fund other types of business - because businesses generate employment, which we need desperately now our jobs are being outsourced to the slave labour economies abroad. 

The English Radicals believe that every pub and bar should, by law, be a free house, and we would like nothing better than to see every local pub community owned, and supplied by local breweries, with the global breweries that once owned them forced to compete in the “free” market, instead of running the cosy scam that forces pub managers to buy only their products. 

A toast to the Star Inn, and may they always prosper.

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ALL WE WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT.........

Eight years on from their original deployment and the UK’s armed forces in Afghanistan have just been informed that £150 million will be made available to provide extra funding to combat improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Happy Xmas guys, and Gordon Brown is sorry that after all this time as Chancellor and Prime Minister he didn’t realise that you had to defuse a lot of bombs out there! Nor did he realise that you needed helicopters to get about, because the roads were full of IEDs; nor did he realise that the snatch Land Rovers you have were a tad vulnerable to both bombs and bullets. But you are getting proper armoured vehicles now, even if they don’t like the sand too much. Sad really, when you hear how our armed forces are sent to war without the right equipment; pathetic, even, when you hear that UK generals have been cadging lifts from US Army helicopters, but disgusting when you hear that British soldiers are buying their own body armour and other vital equipment on Ebay. So, Mr Brown, where has all the money allocated to fight the war gone? And, lest we forget, this is not a recent event, for one of the very first British casualties in Iraq in 2003 died because he had given somebody else his body armour due to shortages!

How treacherous is it for a government to despatch men and women to war but not provide them with the equipment necessary to fight that war in the safest and most efficient manner? For that is what this is, treachery of the highest order. Politicians and their banker friends rewarding themselves with mega-bonuses, repairing their moats and their clock towers, fiddling whatever cash they can out of the taxpayer and then denying the funds needed to support our services in the face of a vicious and deadly enemy. Moreover, an enemy that this same Establishment has told us it is vital to take on and defeat to make our streets safe. Yet history teaches us that this betrayal of our armed forces is nothing new. In the First World War there were often supply problems and in one famous incident the artillery that should have been sent to the men who had secured a beachhead at Gallipoli ended up in Egypt. So those men were stuck on the beach, under heavy enemy artillery fire and without the means to respond. In more recent times the first soldiers deployed onto the streets of Northern Ireland waited years to get the proper riot equipment and had to resort to using bin lids and shoving copies of ‘National Geographic’ magazine down their trousers to combat stone-throwing youths. Whilst the Task Force that was sent to the Falklands found that the warships melted when struck with missiles, and even the humble army boot disintegrated when it made contact with the Falklands mud, British soldiers ended up robbing the boots of dead Argentinian soldiers in order to finish their forced march across the island.

The English Radical Alliance does not think that our soldiers should be deployed anywhere in the World except in England to defend our streets and our shores, but whilst our troops are on active service, as they are today, they should be provided with the necessary personal and tactical equipment to do the job. To do otherwise is not only undermining the military campaign, it is also a crime!

.............AND A DECENT ROOF OVER OUR HEADS

Having denied the men in the frontline the proper equipment to do their job, the Ministry of Defence is trying to further undermine their morale by delaying improvements to services’ accommodation in order to help the department save money. In a recent letter from the head of the Army, Sir David Richards, it was announced that there will have to be a 10% cut in capital building programmes in order to help plug the £1.5 billion deficit in the MOD budget and this can only be achieved by postponing promised repairs to barracks and married quarters. Thousands of soldiers currently live in damp, poorly maintained barracks that have leaking roofs, broken windows, faulty heating and blocked lavatories. Just what kind of people inhabit the MOD? These are the same people who took disabled soldiers to Court to reduce their compensation for wounds received on active duty and yet who awarded themselves massive bonuses recently, no doubt from the savings on providing body armour and helicopters to soldiers in Afghanistan. No wonder Gordon Brown wants to send even more soldiers to Afghanistan, that’s less who will need a roof over their head in this country. So, when the General Election comes along and you are thinking about where to place your cross, please remember just how the Labour Party and gutless politicians in the other parties treated the people who they sent out to fight its illegal wars.

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MORE JOBS GO TO THE LANDS OF CHEAP LABOUR
England's last remaining piano manufacturer - Kemble, based at Bletchley near Milton Keynes - has now closed with the loss of more than 90 jobs. Its parent company, Yamaha, is moving production to the land of cheap labour in the Far East. The company which has been owned by Yamaha since the mid 1980's claim the marketplace for mid-range pianos has come under increasing pressure, and in order to improve their long term competitiveness, the best solution is to fully utilise their manufacturing capacity in other locations! In simple terms close down the company here in England and relocate abroad where labour is cheap and working conditions much poorer!

In 1986 when Yamaha first became involved with what was then a family owned company, workers felt the Japanese multinational were their saviours. Yet this action has proved that Yamaha and the entire capitalist system cannot be trusted and that Kemble is just one of a long line of companies who are relocating to the lands of cheap labour at the expense of the workforce here in England.

English Radicals have a very dim view of such action and an even dimmer view of the lack of action by the British government. ERA believes when a company relocates to the lands of cheap labour, its workforce should be paid a lump sum equivalent one years wages on top of any redundancy pay. This would give the workforce a real financial cushion and the opportunity to start their own business if they wish. In addition to this ERA believes that the workforce should be given the opportunity to buy the business at a reduced rate and to run it as a co-operative.

Only ERA offer policies that provide greater job security for the workers of England, reducing the fear at cheap foreign labour taking their jobs, and at the same time offering real opportunity.

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