Tax Research censorship policy

Some of our readers will have been trying to convince Richard Murphy of Tax Research that LVT is an essential component of any serious package of reforms that will address the current epidemic of tax avoidance. He is now fed up with people try to tell him this and is imposing a censorship policy.

“Having reflected on this one obvious way to cut out some work is to get rid of all the comments that are posted here in contravention of the comments policy.”

So please note if you’re just trying to support neoliberalism, tax avoiders, offshore and austerity you will be deleted, and most especially so if you have been doing so persistently. The same will be true of those who say for the umpteenth time that land value tax solves all problems. And it will also be true for those who I know abuse me elsewhere. Life’s too short for all of that.

“Those persistent few involved, please take note. Just go spend your time on the Telegraph blog. They may appreciate you there.”

We are not neoliberals or tax avoiders and do not support offshore or austerity. Neither has anyone seriously suggested that LVT is a panacea – that is a deliberate misrepresentation of the view we are presenting. What we are trying to say is that the problem needs to be tackled at source, which I would have thought was eminently realistic. As King Canute demonstrated, you cannot regulate the tides. Murphy is probably best ignored. The trouble is that those in the concern industry take notice of what he says.

The other issue concerns the silencing of neo-liberals, whose discourse is founded on sand, which someone in Murphy’s position ought to be exposing. Unfortunately he seems to be unable to counter their arguments by pointing to their internal inconsistency. It is a sad comment on the state of public discourse that issues cannot be openly discussed.