What most people desire in life is not to be filthy rich, or even to be rich at all, but to be able to afford their daily bread, to have a decent roof over their heads, to enjoy good health, to get timeous and lifesaving healthcare services when they fall sick, to have access to affordable education, transport, communication, safety and security when they need them, and to generally be able to live independent, free and happy lives.
Anything else over and above this would just be an added bonus. Is this not the case, ladies and gentlemen? But then, the majority of people in this world are always not a happy people at all! They are always complaining about one thing or another, always and every day! If it is not about the lack or unavailability of good food, water, electricity and sanitation services, decent accommodation, correct, proper and lifesaving healthcare services, good educational facilities, reliable transport services, reliable energy, safety and security services, it is all about the unaffordability of all these basic human needs and services. Please note that all these basic human needs are also basic human rights! And yet their availability, affordability and accessibility are not always assured or guaranteed! Hence most people are always complaining and unhappy about these issues!
unaffordability
What exactly is the real or actual cause of this almost seemingly perpetual unavailability, unaffordability and inaccessibility of basic human needs in all our countries and also in the whole world in general today? Ruling politicians and their national governments would like to blame it all on anything and everything else, whatever that anything and everything else is, except on themselves! They would like to blame it on the sun, the rains, the weather, the climate, the history, the geography, the economy and the general public, the global economy, the political environment (here please read the opposition), and everything else except themselves! And yet they are and would be the ones in charge of everything! How can the one in charge not to blame for the state of the situation in any situation? Such would be a fallacy, right? In any situation, the one who calls the shots is always to blame if those shots go wrong, right? Hence our cunning or not so cunning politicians and their national governments are the ones to blame for all our problems and challenges in this world today, right? Yes please! This is a given.
Herein below is how these politicians and their or our national governments are to blame for all our sufferings, problems and challenges on this earth.And they must not deny it because it is true! It is now generally received wisdom that poverty wages and overtaxation are the two main scourges which bedevil innovation, human endeavour, human growth, happiness, social harmony, socio-economic growth and development worldwide. And these things are perpetrated upon people, upon us, by our very own politicians and national governments and no one else! Over the years, there are a lot of wise sayings which have been uttered by highly educated and erstwhile societal leaders, but which our very own esteemed political leaders never seem to want to heed or to follow.
This is really very unfortunate because we could prevent a lot of catastrophes if only we would listen to and also follow these wise sayings. Former United States of America (USA) President John F. Kennedy once said that “It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today, and tax revenues are too low! And yet the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates!” And the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill once said that “For a nation to try to tax itself to prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” And Gore Vidal added that “The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.” Finally, another former USA President, Franklin D. Roosevelt said that “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay.
That is the only American principle.” Without adding anything to all the above wise sayings, it is pretty obvious that in the long term, the best way to collect more tax revenue is to reduce the tax rate, and that no country in this world can tax its way to prosperity. It is also obvious that most people pay taxes from which they do not benefit at all or even see the benefits thereof, and also that taxes must be levied and paid according to one’s ability to pay. This is the received wisdom, good people.
independently
When it comes to poverty, the situation is also just as dire as with taxation! By definition, poverty is a situation whereby someone is unable to independently afford or to independently provide for their own basic daily needs and for those of their family as well, and also for those of the other people who depend on them for survival. According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of basic human needs, these basic human needs are the basic physiological needs of food, shelter, health, education, transport, communication, safety and security as already alluded to above.
Hence anyone who cannot provide for these basic human needs or necessities for themselves, and also for their dependent family members and other people is classified as poor or poverty stricken. When defined like this, it means that statistically speaking, the majority of people in any given community or country can actually be classified as poor people. In fact, at most, only twenty per cent of the population in any given country or community can afford to provide for their own basic daily human needs without any need for government support, or assistance in that regard whatsoever.
However, the majority 80 per cent of the population would always need government’s support in one form or the other, in order for them to be able to meet their basic daily needs.
The difference between the so called rich countries and poor countries is that in rich countries, national governments routinely assist the poor 80 per cent of their citizenry to meet all their basic daily human needs through the implementation of well-funded, people based, people derived, people centred and tried and tested universal and comprehensive social security and social protection funds and systems, while in poor countries, national governments do nothing of that sort at all, but just leave their poverty stricken citizens to their own means and devices! What a tragedy this is indeed! In fact, it is catastrophic!
And as far as poverty is concerned, Mr Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa once said that “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, but an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental basic human right, the right to dignity and to a decent life.” This is absolutely true. There is nothing which is as undignified as being poor! Poor people end up being exposed and vulnerable to some of the most heinous and undignified exploitation ever, of which modern slavery, underpayment, prostitution, rape, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are just but some of the very few examples.
Any national government which lets some of its citizens, whether young or old, to descend to such low levels would be doing a great injustice to its own people. And yet we have got reports of university students in some countries in this world selling sex cheaply, in order for them to just be able to afford a single plate of food for that day alone! This is tragic! Really tragic indeed! Nelson Mandela must be turning in his grave in anguish about such scenarios! Is it any wonder then that the renowned Indian political activist Mahatma Ghandi once said that “Poverty is the worst form of violence!” And also that the great Greek Philosopher Aristotle once said that “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime!” While one of the biggest causes of poverty in any given country is the lack of well-funded, people based, people oriented, people derived, people centred and people driven and tried and tested universal and comprehensive social security and social protection services, funds and systems, one of the biggest causes of poverty is also overtaxation and poverty wages.
It is better for people to be directly taxed through social protection and social security contributions than for them to be globally and repeatedly taxed through income tax and VAT (value added tax) for supposed benefits which they would never see with their very own eyes, or which would never accrue to them. No one knows where exactly the lot of the income tax and VAT money which many national governments collect goes to, or is used for! Such collected tax is purportedly used to provide for basic human needs such as food, shelter, health, education, energy, transport, communication, safety and security as already alluded to above. But the truth is that all these services are usually very scarce, unavailable, inaccessible and unaffordable in many of our countries today regardless of the collected taxes! People still end up directly paying exorbitant amounts of money for all these services themselves and yet they are or were supposed to be covered by the collected income, corporate and sales taxes (VAT) which they paid to government!
poverty
The other biggest cause of poverty is poverty wages. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), decent work or a decent job is, as a minimum requirement, one which provides for a wage or a salary which at least is just at or above the poverty line, or at or just above the lowest taxable income, and also which enables the worker or earner to independently provide for all his or her own basic daily needs without the need for borrowing, and also which enables the worker or earner to make savings for such things as unforeseen expenses, investments, retirement pension and future spending. Anything less than this is tantamount to slave labour or poverty wages! And yet how many of our national governments today have continuously gazetted and legalised minimum wages which are nothing but just slave labour or poverty wages? This is the crux of the matter, ladies and gentlemen! Cry beloved Africa, for your children continue to be officially and legally enslaved by their very own post-independence national governments through legalised poverty wages! True and painful! I rest my case!