J.K. Rowling on Taxation
An excerpt from The Times.
I chose to remain a domiciled taxpayer for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles.
A second reason, however, was that I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug.
J.K. Rowling
It’s for this reason that I am a fiscal liberal. Not because I was once a single mother on welfare, but because I believe that those that are fortunate enough to have success, luck and well being should help those that may not be as fortunate. Sure, part of that can come through philanthropic efforts, though plenty of times it’s purely for the tax benefits. More specifically, I’m talking about taxation.
Call me insane, but I want to be taxed. I want my country to have an infrastructure to protect me from undue harm, roads so that I may go where I please, and health care options if I were to ever be unable to care for myself. There are children that go hungry, fathers that can’t provide for their families and veterans that sit abandoned and invisible on the street corners. None of the solutions required to solve these problems can come without taxation, thus I am more than happy to play my part.
So bravo, Ms. Rowling, for recognizing that there’s more in the world than hoarding wealth.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7096786.ece
