I believe that every society needs a healthy dose of anarchy. It is just not possible to regulate everything, if you try the result is bureaucracy, and ridiculous laws and regulations that nobody understands nor adheres to. The Netherlands is an example of a society that has clearly gone way too far in trying to be "fair" to everybody, resulting in 20-page forms for the simplest of arrangements, employees of (mostly) government institutions that also don't know the rules and decide arbitrarily (or, more often don't decide at all), and finally being unfair to many people because the clever and educated ones know how to find their way through the systems, while the less educated get lost in them.
An example of a ridiculous tax law was in the news today. After a court case that lasted seven (!) years there was a ruling by the Supreme Court about taxing employer provided meals. You know, some companies provide meals to their employees and of course, in trying to be fair, the tax man decided that the meal is actually income that needs to be taxed. So far so good. Until a cook in a restaurant claimed that he never ate the food that was provided by his employer (did he cook so badly?); instead his wife cooked dinner for him every day. So now, after seven years, the Courts have decided that in order for the meals to be considered income, the tax man will have to prove that the employee actually consumed the meal. I wouldn't be surprised if tax inspectors will show up at offices and factories to check who is eating the employer provided meals. A society gone mad.
No comments:
Post a Comment