Government Rearguard Action
It’s to be expected. When the going gets rough (for governments), they turn around and start turning the screws.
One of the inevitable consequences for a prolonged recession/depression is that as jobs are lost, so is tax revenue. And just when the government needs heaps of additional cash to fund its increased borrowings, the tax base is eroded by the decline in economic activity.
These news stories are typical of what is to come:
German Minister to Tax Cheats: Be Wise and Confess
European States Keep Swiss Bank Secrecy Under Seige
Why Germany is Paying Millions in Ransom For Stolen Bank Data
Notice the use of the term “tax cheats” in the first headline. The news is “massaged” to contain a moral element – that those who don’t pay taxes are ‘cheats’. But is that so? Taxation is the forced removal of money from your pocket for various social, economic and political ends that you have no control over and may morally disagree with. Tax is theft of your property. A tax “cheat” is the same as a homeowner defending his house against the government who is determined to demolish it. Go figure.
Spending tax money to make deals with criminals? Apparently no problem for our virtuous politicians! The ends justify the means. If a private person buys stolen goods, it is a crime. Not for governments.
But wait… Thousends of highly skilled Germans leave the country every year. Same thing in other european countries. Governments will soon run out of taxpayers.