The Real American Dream – in Scandinavia: the Tax Justice Network podcast, May 2021

Welcome to the latest episode of the Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast, the Taxcast. You can subscribe either by emailing naomi [at] taxjustice.net or find us on your podcast app. In this episode:

Taxcast host Naomi Fowler talks to millionaire and wealth tax campaigner Djaffar Shalchi of Millionaires for Humanity about his experience of moving from Iran at an early age to grow up in Denmark. He shares how highly he values the high tax Scandinavian society, as an entrepreneur, and as a human being. He also talks about his campaign for a 1% wealth tax on the world’s top 1%.

• Plus: US President Biden drops his proposal for a minimum global corporate tax rate from 21% to ‘at least 15%’ which is bitterly disappointing.
• However, so far the US administration is sticking to its plan to invest $80 billion in its tax authority, the IRS. Tax collectors will be able to refocus on the wealthiest and on corporate profits. Tax collectors could pull in an additional $700 billion over the next decade.
• Also, how degrowth must begin with the very wealthy.

The transcript is available here: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/The-Taxcast-Transcript-112.pdf

Download here to listen offline.

The beautiful thing about Denmark, or Scandinavia, is that you have this beautiful welfare system where everybody get the same opportunities. Denmark gave me an education, a good healthcare system, and all the benefits that many in Denmark have worked for to give to their children. So for me, it was obvious that when I got successful, I never, never said that it was only because I was good. I said the society of course is a big part of it. And that’s why I have to protect the welfare system and put as much as I can back inside the system.”

~ Djaffar Shalchi, Millionaires for Humanity

De-growth must be focused on reducing the hugely polluting lifestyles of the richest people on the planet, let’s say the top 10%, at the same time allowing for growth of health and education services, all the other services that can rapidly improve the wellbeing of the remaining 90% of the people. This should be an agenda for redistributing wealth and power. In a world of finite resources, we can only live in peace if we share resources more fairly, and don’t perpetuate an economic system which distributes resources upwards into the pockets of a very tiny minority who mainly extract wealth rather than create wealth.”

~ John Christensen, Tax Justice Network

Our tax collectors are the forgotten key workers, right up there with healthcare staff and all the key workers, that we should be celebrating most highly.”

~ Taxcast host Naomi Fowler

Image: “Copenhagen Cycling” by @markheybo is licensed under CC BY 2.0