Poverty and taxes

Fighting the material poverty of so many people is a moral imperative of human solidarity. Even, for the sad argument of selfishness, we will reach the conclusion that it is much better for everyone to live in a cohesive society than in one divided between a few rich people and a lot of poor people.

Taxes are the great equalizer, but as the world goes, the goal of equal opportunities is distancing itself from us like the horizon line. A certain postal code or family origin is almost a condemnation that today's children will inherit their parents' poverty.

The poverty rate in Catalonia is higher than in Europe and is becoming chronic, as confirmed by the self-sacrificing Catalan third-sector organizations, which are struggling because they cannot help everyone who asks. And it is clear that with the taxes paid by families with one or two salaries and a roof, we will not solve it. Moreover, among these families, too many, once they have paid the rent or mortgage, are candidates to be included in the risk of social exclusion list.

Under these conditions, the moral imperative for the entire Catalan political class is that our country can dispose of its enormous fiscal effort. People cannot be squeezed any harder without taking into account all that we pay and does not return, and the administration must be much more efficient. But above all, it cannot be believed that the redistributive theory of taxes will hold up for many more years with this concentration of wealth in a few hands that know and can evade taxes. But that would already require a global rethinking of what we call the principle of reality, not to say savage capitalism.