Chairperson, can there be power without wealth? Sure, there can, but not the kind people want to hear about - you know the Gandhi and Jesus kind. International agendas clearly revolve around another kind of power, the kind that money buys. Archbishop Tutu's call earlier this month for a wealth tax unleashed a huge debate when it was reported that his suggestion was aimed at white people. It turns out he was not aiming his comments at whites at all. He was highlighting a problem of inequality that is threatening the existing order in even the richest countries in the world.
Addressing an audience at the University of Stellenbosch, Tutu said one of the major recommendations that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC, made was to say that the gap between the rich and the poor is wide, it is dangerously wide and we recommend that something ought to be done quickly to narrow this gap. Those in the top half of people, in terms of wealth, and particularly the top 0,1%, can often borrow for almost nothing, keep profits and production overseas, hold personal assets in tax havens, and even influence legislation. In other words, they have power. Those in the bottom half of the top 1% are not quite in the same category as the bottom 99%, but have diminished power all the same, as more doors are shut to them.
In Germany very rich people who take advantage of every possible tax break pay just over 30% tax and more and more people are questioning this, saying countries can no longer afford to make do without money from their wealthiest citizens. The German system has been described as redistribution of wealth from poor to rich; a system where only a few get the profit, but the majority do not. If the rich and the corporations pay fewer and fewer taxes and keep their money for themselves, while the poor pay no taxes because they have no money, public debts result. This system has come to the end of the road and people in governments face tough decisions and tough questions: Do we raise taxes or cut spending?
The recent riots in London tell an all too familiar story of increasing social instability; the politics of inequality has gotten us into this crisis, globally. With every decision government makes it should be asking: Does this give power to people or take it away? While it is not always possible to give power back to individuals, we can do the next best thing - redistribute power both in decision-making and finances to neighbourhoods and local governments. History shows us that all politicians, when they have been in office for long enough, become centralisors. Time for radical decentralisation and redistribution of power is due on a global scale. Thank you.