The Tax Justice Network, as its name implies, aims to promote justice in taxation. As I have said previously, the organisation ought to be on-side with us but sadly it is not. It does little more than trade on public indignation, admittedly well-founded, and promote popular left-wing myths. This is an example of a recent exchange I had, which they declined to publish on their blog, as TJN seems to censor comments it is uncomfortable with.

This is ongoing... please join in discussion here!

As regular readers of the LVTC website know, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) has been running a campaign against tax havens for some while now. One might have expected it to have come out in active support for LVT but they seem to have a blind spot about it. TJN takes the view that the tax system just needs to be tightened up - a bit more regulation and exchange, and all will be well. It is unwilling to accept that there is anything fundamentally wrong with the tax system itself. I posted this comment on their blog site...

According to an article in the Guardian today, economics is a must study for students in recession. A surge in sixth-formers applying to study economics at university is being attributed to the global recession awakening a public thirst for knowledge about how the financial system works. Applications for degree courses beginning this autumn or next were up by 15% this January, according to UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. A spokesman for the Royal Economic Society said applications to do economics at GCSE and A-level were also up. Heaven help us.

Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, has written a new book about world poverty which looks set to grab wide attention. In “The Life You Can Save,” he writes, "On a planet full of so much obvious and widespread suffering... there is something deeply askew with our widely accepted views about what it is to live a good life.” I would suggest that his arguments are flawed.