There seems an air of increasing desperation in Copenhagen, as the Danish police call for reinforcements to beat back the armies of anti-capitalist demonstrators and assorted greens now frantically laying siege to the bizarre meeting which is attempting to save the world.

In an attempt to get somebody to agree to something, it seems that shipping and aviation might now be targeted as a useful contributor to the amorphous fund which must be cobbled together to bribe the developing nations to go quietly, as the newly industrialised nations seem to have other ideas of what constitutes consensus.

And what is worse, some bright spark has come up with the idea of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change becoming the “banker”, collecting and presumably distributing the vast sums to be raised by taxing aviation and ships’ bunker fuel.

It is worth analysing what this could mean. Firstly that it is the UN which will be levying a tax upon all of us who use ships and aircraft , which in the case of the former, means a tax on virtually everyone on the planet, for whose life is not touched materially by the passage of merchant ships? It is, not to put too fine a point upon it, world government.

Secondly, this is taxation without proper representation , with no confidence in any competent authority, which can collect the money fairly and distribute it properly. And for what purpose? It is because transport is viewed as a soft touch , and one that coincides with the twisted views of the mad greens rioting around the Copenhagen climate change festival as the blizzards (a final irony) clamp down. How on earth will making shipping goods around the world more expensive benefit anyone, and especially those who can afford it least. But madder things have happened at the 11^th hour at these frantic, futile international beanfeasts. Remember, taxation without representation was responsible, so history informs us, for an earlier, but perhaps more significant riot, in Boston.

One Response to “Taxation and representation”

1. Eur.Ing. Wesley D. Wheeler
   January 7th, 2010 @ 10:24 pm

   Amen! This is an attempted globalization of the
   current American theme “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs”
   Keep the faith!
   Wes

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