Stop the Harvey Norman GST tax extortion

Harvey Norman and a number of other retailers are attempting to lobby the Australian government to place a GST upon online transactions. We encourage you to boycott Harvey Norman stores in Australia and New Zealand. Taxation is not the answer and we will explain why in this blog.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Is Gerry Harvey a man of principle?

Well, I guess you could argue that everybody is a 'man of principle'. For instance, we might well argue that a psychotic is a 'man of delusion'. Gerry Harvey is upholding the principle of fairness. His position is that he is unfairly being penalised by the tax system which offers buyers of imported products a concession at his expense. The problem with his thinking is:

1. Concession - They are not getting a concession, it is just that with respect to this particular tax, you are being unfairly treated, not not simply because you are paying (or collecting) more tax, but because you are being extorted; never mind that they are not. The fact that a person is enslaved by a tax system is no justification for enslaving others.

2. Arbitrary democracy - Gerry Harvey is using the political process to achieve his self-serving ends. This would not be a problem in a socio-political system where reason was the standard of value; but its not. Numbers and 'access' are the basis upon which the political parties draw up arbitrary laws to appeal to their 'alligned interests'.

This is why Gerry Harvey ought to have attacked the illegitimacy of taxation and the democratic system. If I was him I think I would have retired and sold his shares before doing that, because some of his political opponents would have polarised his opponents and lobbied through his commercial interests. The reality is that Gerry Harvey ought not to be the face of any political campaign; he simply is not intellectual enough.

I therefore don't doubt that Gerry Harvey is a principled man; the problem is its a principle held out of context. The pertinent context is the arbitrary democratic/statutory legal framework which he is effectively endorsing.

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