Kitty in chains - By Kitty Miv, Editor

19 January 2012
Elderly warhorses abound on the European stage this week, from the venerable Tobin pantomime animal, currently starring in President Sarkozy's re-election campaign at the Palace Theatre, and shortly thereafter destined for the knacker's yard, to the more sprightly, even perhaps immortal Employee Share Ownership steed.

Immortal, because it is such a virtuous idea that no-one would ever condemn it to be chopped up. But fated to be eternally unfulfilled, because while it is indisputably admirable, it is so contrary to the interests of the main vested interests that run our societies that it stands no chance of thoroughgoing adoption.

This week the UK is having one of its periodic flings with 'worker capitalism', quite a revealing name for it, since Workers and Capitalists, to give them their Marxist-Leninist capital letters, both hate it. To see why, look at the reasons that Australia gave when it backed off any enlargement of its current puny share ownership regime when it gave the idea a long, hard look a couple of years ago.

'Capitalists', meaning the providers of capital, are variously, investment funds, insurance companies, private equity funds, stock exchanges, and wealthy individual investors. What they all want, with minor differences, is a liquid market where merger and acquisition activity is well-oiled and not held back by spiky groups of shareholders with interests which are at variance with their own. It's obvious that they will be against employee shareholders; or to put it the other way about, no group of employee shareholders is ever going to be in favour of unbridled, short-termist market activity.

What about the Workers, then? Wouldn't they be in favour of taking some ownership in the businesses where they work?

Sorry, but no! The Workers means the Unions, and they are right against employee shareholders. It's probably too obvious to need explaining, but you have to start from the unpleasant fact that Union bosses are no Kier Hardies; they are corporatist fat cats with high salaries, luxurious offices, unlimited expense accounts and unfettered powers. For them, the best place for workers to be is in chains, and they cooperate willingly with bosses to make sure things stay that way.

But wouldn't the Government be in favour? After all, it's undeniable that businesses with employee shareholders are more successful, make more money, pay their staff better - and all of that means more tax. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but it doesn't work that way. True, there are some shining examples of mutual businesses, such as John Lewis (they're always mentioned, because they're just about the only one!), where the whole business is employee-owned. But the more normal scenario is for the share-owning managers of a partly employee-owned business to want to be self-employed, and if anything is anathema to tax collectors in general, it's self-employment. Just like the funds, the bosses and the Unions, the tax collectors want you chained up.

The reasons for this are to be found in employment law, which for all its recent liberalization by the EU is still basically a slaves' charter. When you start to draft a service contract for one share-owning employee, or a group of them (I've done it) you quickly come face to face with the impossibility, from the employee's perspective, of having a business relationship with your employer alongside your employment. So, you ask, and are advised, to seek self-employment, so that you can have an actionable contract with your boss. Which she wants, unless she is unusually enlightened, about as much as she wants to eat nuclear waste for breakfast.

Thus even well-intentioned governments end up by crafting toothless group share ownership regimes, and ducking the changes which would actually create a true entrepreneurial culture.

So it's employment that's the problem; the convenient set of chains lovingly crafted in the 18th and 19th centuries by the powers-that-were and their lawyers, and which no government ever since has had the remotest intention of removing.

There are some chinks of light to be seen in the growth of home-working and tele-commuting; but that's all they are. A truly radical government would invent a new form of company/worker relationship over the heads of the vested interests, suited to democratic capitalism, light the blue touch-paper, and stand well back.

I'll volunteer to draft the law; but no-one will call me!

Ciao, Kitty

You have been reading an entry on the following blog:

Kitty Miv, Editor

kitty@lowtax.net

Tags: Angela Merkel | Germany | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) | Hong Kong | Philippines | Russia | Scotland | Taxation | UK | US Congress | USA | Vladimir Putin | WTO

More posts from Kitty Miv, Editor

Hong Kong is at it all the time - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Encomiums and Execrations - By Kitty Miv, Editor

The Faustian bargain between governments and banks - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Being lead to think that the 'battle against offshore' is being won - By Kitty Miv, Editor

The US Treasury doesn't display the bumbling incoherence of Brussels - By Kitty Miv, Editor

It's only a matter of time before robots are given human rights - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Welcome 1984, already 28 years late but coming to your living-room soon!

Sex, drink and gambling - By Kitty Miv, Editor

"I don't know," he said, "but I hope they're nowhere near the Isle of Man." - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Because they are mis-educated, that's why! - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Guaranteed to infuriate the Chinese - By Kitty Miv, Editor

We are squirrels by nature, accumulating against a cold winter - By Kitty Miv, Editor

The real Greek problem, in a nutshell - By Kitty Miv, Editor

When bashing the rich is a good gimmick - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Heading for a dust-up - By Kitty Miv, Editor

If he has any sense he will quit his torture chamber - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Kitty would like to be paid - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Kitty in chains - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Going to the dogs - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Benjamin Franklin was wrong - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Capitalism in 2012? - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Kitty and the banks - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Sowing the seeds of revolution - By Kitty Miv, Editor

"It's the markets, stupid" - By Kitty Miv, Editor

"What has posterity ever done for me?" - By Kitty Miv, Editor

And the Devil take the hindmost! - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Hobknobbing with Singapore finance officials - By Kitty Miv, Editor

It's time we started to take referenda more seriously - By Kitty Miv, Editor

The EU should cut Greece loose - By Kitty Miv, Editor

The amazing success of the WTO - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Bash The Rich! - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Why The EU Is A Good Thing - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Don't Bet On It - By Kitty Miv, Editor

A Market In Countries - By Kitty Miv, Editor

America the puzzled - By Kitty Miv, Editor

Interested in blogging on Lowtax? We are currently accepting submissions!

By hosting your blog on the network you or your company can expect to benefit from our very high traffic levels. We boast one of the largest communities of professionals (tax, offshore, legal, etc) and HNWIs. If you are already a blogger, but want a wider audience, you can move an existing blog to our network, or if you've never blogged before, why not have a go? We'll help you get started.

E-mail blogs@lowtax.net to learn more.