The joy of tax : how a fair tax system can create a better society

Tax has been around for a long time. Almost no one gives it a good press and they never have. And yet, this is the subject that is at the very heart of politics the world over. There is, though, another truth: that we really like what tax pays for. In fact, we like it so much that we have almost always been happy for our government to spend more than it raises from us in tax. 2008 apparently changed all that. The issue of debt, deficits, cuts and austerity now dominates the political agenda. In fact, absolutely any aspect of the government's finances and how to rearrange them in a seemingly forlorn hope of balancing the state's books is discussed, except for tax. That, it seems, is off limits. The one thing that is never mentioned is how tax can solve our problems. In this book, campaigner Richard Murphy will challenge almost every idea you have about tax. For him, tax is fundamentally about ideas, not technicalities, and his intention is to make clear that there is a joy in tax and it is one of the most important issues in our world today. In The Joy of Tax , tax campaigner and creator of Corbynomics, Richard Murphy challenges almost every idea you have about tax. For him, tax is fundamentally about the ideas that shape the sort of society we want to live in, not technicalities. His intention is to demonstrate that there is indeed a joy in tax, and by embracing it we can create a fairer society and change the world for the better. Tax has been a feature of human society for a very long time. Almost no one gives tax a good press even though, as Richard Murphy argues, it has been fundamental to the development of democracy the world over. Whilst we may not like tax very much, in contrast it is clear that we really do like the public services which governments provide. So much so, in fact, that for most of the last 300 years, people have been more than happy for governments to run deficits by spending more than they raise in taxation. 2008 apparently changed all that. The issues of debt, deficits, cuts and austerity have dominated the political agenda ever since. Virtually every aspect of the government's finances and how to rearrange them in the forlorn hope of balancing the books has been discussed in great detail. Despite that, there has been almost no real discussion during this period about what tax is for and how it contributes to the creation of the society we aspire to. Tax has been a feature of human society for a very long time. Almost no one gives tax a good press even though, as Richard Murphy argues, it has been fundamental to the development of democracy the world over. Whilst we may not like tax very much, in contrast it is clear that we really do like the public services which governments provide. So much so, in fact, that for most of the last 300 years, people have been more than happy for governments to run deficits by spending more than they raise in taxation. 2008 apparently changed all that. The issues of debt, deficits, cuts and austerity have dominated the political agenda ever since. Virtually every aspect of the government's finances and how to rearrange them in the forlorn hope of balancing the books has been discussed in great detail. Despite that, there has been almost no real discussion during this period about what tax is for and how it contributes to the creation of the society we aspire to. In The Joy of Tax, tax campaigner and creator of 'Corbynomics' Richard Murphy challenges almost every idea you have about tax. For him, tax is fundamentally about the ideas that shape the sort of society we want to live in, not technicalities. His intention is to demonstrate that there is indeed a joy in tax, and by embracing it we can create a fairer society and change the world for the better Challenges almost every idea you have about tax. The author states that tax is fundamentally about the ideas that shape the sort of society we want to live in, not technicalities. He intends to demonstrate that there is indeed a joy in tax, and by embracing it we can create a fairer society and change the world for the better.