An open letter to the economists of Romania
Tom Wilson 28.05.04

Sir,

As a foreign citizen, I feel moved to write to applaud your recent efforts towards a flat rate of income tax in Romania . Bravo! There has been much commotion concerning this issue of late, and I understand that your Prime Minister's chief economic advisor Alexandru Popa has himself recommended this very move. Might I say that successful businessmen like myself have waited for years for such an idea to be implemented in England , though sadly even the great lady herself, Margaret Thatcher, was only able to slash the top rate of tax on income from 83% to 40%. I agree with your country's experts, and look forwards to the day when every working gentleman, rich or poor, faces a flat rate of, say, 15%.

However, I also feel compelled to write since I do not believe that your proposal goes far enough. You in the East are in a unique position to implement a form of capitalism free from the inefficiencies that have plagued us in the west. What I propose is not a flat tax rate, as has been successfully implemented in Russia (13%) and Slovakia (19%) or by those ingenious Americans occupying the recently liberated Iraq . What I venture is a 'progressive', multi-band tax system of a unique kind.

I can already imagine the murmurs of disapproval. 'Progressive taxes are what we wish to avoid!' I hear you cry. Come, come - let us be honest. Your own proposed flat rate of income tax is not flat at all. Since under your envisaged system the poor, up to a certain level of income, will be entirely exempted from paying the single rate of tax, your system is not 'flat'. It is more correctly a progressive system of taxation with two levels of contribution - 0% and 15% tax. Therefore, you need not fear my project simply because of its 'progressive' nature.

What I propose is this: the poor should face a higher rate of tax than the wealthy. It is, if you like, a reversal of the prevailing system. As one earns more, one is taxed at a decreasing rate. Indeed, I am currently toying with the idea of introducing a 0% rate of tax over and above a sufficiently high level of income, say a few tens of millions of dollars. Such are the rewards of riches - after working hard for his money, a gentleman of this degree of accomplishment surely should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Before my idea is dismissed as being unspeakably inhumane, I beg you to hear me out. For too long, upright and successful members of society have subsidised those below us, often paying for services that we ourselves do not use or require. I am pleased to let it be known that I have never in my life had to resort to the use of public transport. So why in heaven's name should I be forced to contribute to it? Myself, my dear lady wife and family are generously insured in a private healthcare scheme. What part have I with the provision of public healthcare? Both my children are thankfully privately educated back home in Britain (Gregory is at Eton , while little Harriet has just started prep school); our neighbourhood is patrolled by a private security firm; and needless to say that my private pension fund should comfortably see us through retirement.

What's more, the poor are disproportionately the consumers of such state-provided services. Their wayward lifestyles mean that the unskilled working classes in Great Britain are three times more likely to die from heart disease and twice as likely to die from cancer. I for one am sick and tired of footing the bill. It's time for the poor to realise that if they want to enjoy the luxuries of healthcare, education and suchlike, they'll have to learn to pay for them out of their own pockets.

Take the issue of welfare reform. Under the Wilson Tax system (if I may be so immodest as to claim patrimony of the idea at this early stage!), the unemployed will be the single most heavily taxed sector of the population. I proffer that in no time at all, Romania will have the lowest rate of unemployment in Europe . Only those genuinely unable to work will be able to remain in such a state of idleness, and with a little luck, a process of natural selection will ensure that only the fittest of these miserable individuals survive. Accelerated Darwinism!

I promise that the Wilson tax, by allowing the rich to keep more of their own money while making poverty an unaffordable luxury will lead to an economic boom unprecedented in European history. Foreign investment and funds will literary flood into Romania .

Some bleeding-heart liberals will no doubt raise their hands at the supposed 'barbarity' of the Wilson Tax. "Trickle-down economics do not work," they might whimper. "Without the redistributive efforts of a genuinely progressive tax system, poverty can only increase. The tax-cutting Thatcher government presided over a staggering increase in poverty, which leapt up by almost 60% during the 1980s."

My only response to such sophistry is to quote the esteemed Briton, Jonathan Swift. In response to the Irish famine, Swift in 1729 proposed a reassuringly simple answer. If the poor are hungry, they can obtain valuable nutrition and remedy the problem of overpopulation by eating their own children.

Yours

Tom Wilson Esq. BA (Oxon)

 

© Tom Wilson / ZF 2004