The cost of silence amid Gaza genocide is measured in human lives

The National

5 days ago

As a rebuke, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee calls on Ireland to apologise to Israel and has asked: 'Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness and propose something so stupid that it would be attributed to an act of diplomatic intoxication?'
READ MORE: 12 countries agree concrete steps to halt Gaza genocide
Significantly, Huckabee has also previously stated that 'there is no such thing as a Palestinian.'
In contrast to these political responses, prominent Israeli Holocaust and genocide scholars Amos Goldberg, Omer Bartov, Daniel Blatman, Raz Segal and Shmuel Lederman have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. According to Goldberg, other genocide experts who have reached this determination include Martin Shaw, author of the book What is Genocide?; Melanie O'Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars; and Dirk Moses, senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research.
When nations ignore the clear assessments of these scholars, they abandon both moral responsibility and international law. The cost of this silence is measured in human lives.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
SURELY there is a fairly simple solution to all the brouhaha about Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone? If, as Ron Lumiere says, 'the boy's narration was scripted, ie he was a voice actor, not an editorial contribution,' why not re-present the film with another neutral voice? Yes, films are expensive to make, but most of the cost must have gone on what would still be usable, with now only a slight expense more to re-dub.
We've heard so much about this film, that I doubt if anyone would object to an impartial voice, for all it wouldn't be quite as dramatic as the original intended.
Catriona de Voil
Arbroath
THE value of land or property is purely notional. It's what one person is prepared to pay for it, IF it were offered for sale and someone wanted it and agreed to buy it. All properties are unique, in terms of precise location and condition, even if design is shared. Even the unique view out of the window can affect a sale and price. But at any point in time, most properties and land holdings are NOT for sale – so their value has to be estimated based on similar nearby property exchanges.
Doing that constantly by the state for millions of holdings is a complex logistical exercise. When the original Council Tax bandings were determined in the early 1990s, it was done a street at a time. Rough justice and anomalies result. People have to be able to appeal the notional valuation. That's not to say it cannot be done, but its a huge logistical exercise for comparatively little of the total tax base in return.
READ MORE: Craig Dalzell: No need to wait for UK. Scotland can launch own form of wealth tax
Contrast that with income. The vast majority of the population have only one source of income, a wage paid by a single employer. Of course some people have multiple or complex income arrangements, but they are the minority. So an income-based tax to fund local services is vastly simpler to administer.
I'm not against broad-based property taxes – property and land cannot be moved as easily as other forms of wealth, and holding of large amounts CAN be directly associated with wealth. But to rely on it as a newer form of major taxation for municipal government functions, when we already have an established apparatus for calculating national income tax, needs to be thought through carefully. Likewise the fact that the current Council Tax doesn't actually fund local government – it funds only about 20% of it, the vast majority being paid by central government grants based on income tax and other national taxes take. So this creates a problematic 'democratic deficit' caused by the 'gearing ratio' between local and national taxes – in order to raise the overall income of a council by 1%, the locally elected councillors need to raise the local tax rate by five times that increase, ie 5%. Understandably local voters are then confused at why their bills have been increased by 5% when services are only improving by 1%.
While it is tempting to transfer local government funding of services entirely to central government (as in the Scottish Socialist Party's 2005 proposals), there is a stronger democratic argument to move the tax base for local government services more to local democratic control, as was the case with the old property rating system. Having a new dual local system based on both broad property value and income tax rates might be a good combination. But as wealth varies significantly by area, central government also needs to pay a fairly substantial 'equalisation' grant that ensures areas with poorer incomes and lower land/property values are not disadvantaged. The proposals set out by Craig Dalzell (Could Scotland launch its own form of wealth tax?, Jul 14) may be PART of the solution, but they are NOT the total answer.
Michael Picken
via thenational.scot