[p2p-research] levels of taxation

[Michel Bauwens]

Interesting comment, with whom I would tend to disagree, but comments very
welcome:
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/what-are-integral-politics/2010/05/03/comment-page-1#comment-430694

I don't have mark's email but he's at *twitter*.com/*openworld*
**
*I will comment soon,*
**
*Peter, by the way, I don't think you ever introduced your taxation project
on the blog, can you do so?*
**
*Michel*



 Openworld <http://www.openworld.com/> Says:
June 16th, 2010 at 6:16
am<http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/what-are-integral-politics/2010/05/03/comment-page-1#comment-430694>
e<http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/wp-admin/comment.php?action=editcomment&c=430694>

Michel,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply – and sorry for the delay in responding.

I agree on the idea of polarities. There is a continuum between the
enterprise association-based state at one end, and the civil
association-based state on the other. Once a state puts systems in place to
tax a substantial portion of wealth, I believe it in effect incentivizes
power struggles, in which groups vie to capture power and secure resources
to advance their enterprise association agendas. Such struggles tend to be
less intense in low-tax, lightly regulated jurisdictions (e.g. Hong Kong)
where there are fewer gains (and losses) to be reaped from political
victories relative to voluntary exchanges. Alvin Rabushka’s early work (in
the 1970s) on Asian freeports and free zones found that ethnic rivalries
tended to fade as civil association-based reforms rewarded shifts from
zero-sum group political competition to voluntary business and social
ventures.

In my view, a “partner state” for a P2P society is one that ensures a rule
of law, in which no peaceful and honest ventures can be subordinated via
discriminatory tax or regulatory measures to the substantive ends of any
other. That said, I’m all in favor of contractual associations (e.g.
neighborhood associations and cooperatives) of residents experimenting with
various codes of conduct that they deem suitable, so long as these are
transparent, subject to state-established uniform due process rules, and
binding only upon expressly-consenting individuals. These conditions, I
think, create conditions for P2P-based polities to learn, adapt, and thrive
from the social and cultural innovations of free people within them.

What do you think?

Best,

Mark
@openworld


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