Is fair taxation the answer?
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Vint Chavala in his letters of November 25 and 26 said, in effect, that should Thaksin decide to keep his hands out of politics, life in this country will become meaningful and happy for everybody, and no more coups will occur.
I wish things were so simple. Vint is blaming Thaksin for all the ills of our society. Remove him and instantly we become one big happy nation. He further simplified things by implying in his letter of November 7 that the educated half of the voting public, the ones who are paying most of the taxes, would agree with him. Presumably it is the same half that did not vote for Pheu Thai. Presumably it is the same half with the monopoly on all the wisdom in the land. Then came the clincher: if Thaksin insists on continuing his ways, he might end up sprawled dead on the floor like Julius Caesar.
Perhaps one way out of this quagmire is to accept Thaksin as he is, warts and all. When income tax was introduced in the US in the early 20th century there was, understandably, a loud outcry from the rich. But the huge disparity in income between the rich and the poor was just too glaring, and rage was threatening to consume the nation. In the end the Republicans voted for income tax and even supported a constitutional amendment just “to quiet that rage”, as one author puts it.
Kemadist Chiaracharuwat
Bangkok
