c.
d.
It resulted in a distorted price structure that systematically undervalued
labour, to the detriment of economic efficiency.
Reliance on the profit of state industry is a hidden form of revenue, which
is not easily amenable to democratic control.
We therefore strongly advocate a reliance on income and asset taxes rather
than indirect taxes. The tax basis of the Union should be switched from VAT
to progressive income and asset taxes. The European Parliament should be
able to adjust the tax rates paid to the Union, subject to gaining a majority in
a Union-wide referendum.
At the moment the parliament can not raise revenues on its own account,
a fundamental requirement for a genuinely democratic assembly. But given
the suspicion of the Union that exists, it would be unwise to allow parliament
to introduce or change taxes without popular support.
1. Either the parliament or citizens initiatives should be able to propose
new Union taxes such as income taxes, customs duties or property taxes
provided that these pass a popular vote.
2. The broad headings of the budget should be subject to popular vote.
3. The EU central bank should be subject to the parliament.
4 EU Democratisation
The split in authority and economic power between the EU and the nation
states has at least partially blocked the road to the old social democratic /
Keynesian means of dealing with recessions. Constraints on budgetary policy,
lack of control over the currency and capital flows prevent nation states from
following classic Keynesian policies. At the same time the EU itself lacks the
budget or the power to substitute for the nation states in this situation. A
consequence is the absence of a political form in which the labour movement
of Europe can express itself in classical social democratic politics.
In the absence of classical social democratic politics you do not get
the clear constitution of a European employee class, since a class cannot be
constituted outside of a political party in the broad sense of the word.
Consequently we argue that it is necessary for the labour movements
of Europe to take on board their own democratic version of European
internationalism, since neither the technocrats of the EU itself nor the
propertied classes of Europe are capable of doing this.
16
Paul Cockshott, Allin Cottrell, Heinz Dieterich