So the greatest and wisest of the European Union are gathering in Brussels for one more of those chummy get togethers with lots of French wines and delicacies to tide them through the long night’s negotiations. At best, these gatherings of the continent’s greatest minds end up deciding absolutely nothing. At worst they end up with the worse possible decisions, most of which are anyway modified, adulterated, misinterpreted or whatever suits each individual state. The ones with the clout that is. The others have meekly and obligingly effectively abolished themselves.
Anyway, today’s gathering is, we are told, to discuss ways of putting an end to tax evasion! Imagine that? I thought it was something most self respecting ministers of the EU member states indulged in themselves. (The French guy was only different in that he got caught). But there is another factor in this sudden zeal to put and end to tax evasion.
A full admission that tax evasion is and has been rife throughout the Eurozone? So far we have been lead to believe that it was only the vile, venal, lazy and profligate Greeks who evaded their taxes. To the extent that the IMF Chief Christine Lagarde aka Marie Antoinette, who never ever indulged in tax evasion in her life… well…um, she is under investigation for other nasty things she really should not have been doing… but still.
Anyway! As I was trying to say, the way things were presented it was only the Greeks who evaded their taxes, so much so that the aforementioned lady stated blandly that she had no sympathy for little Greek children going hungry because their parents did not pay their taxes! Hmmm….
Anyway, be that as it may. This is bound to turn out to be another EU red herring where a lot will be said, a lot will be drunk and even more eaten, but nothing will be done. Or if anything at all is done, it will result in ruining Luxemburg. Austria and perhaps some others, while all the wealth resulting from tax evasion will migrate deeper into Asia. Probably Shanghai. An excellent opportunity for the growing giant of Capitalism!
Still, I have a suggestion. The next Euro Summit, once it has solved the matter of tax evasion, should turn to abolishing prostitution. It’s just as abhorrent! And just as easy to put an end to.