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Tax Havens

Published on May. 31, 2016: The Denki Shimbun (The Electric Daily News)
Shojiro Matsuura
Chairman of JANSI

I felt deeply and thoroughly shocked by the recent report on tax havens, which are jurisdictions where certain taxes can be avoided. Their presence around the world and level of operation were far greater than we ever imagined. Throughout history, different countries and regions have all developed their own taxation systems. This means that all the people living in a certain country, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, are equally subject to the benefits and limitations imposed by that country’s taxation system. However, the report on tax havens seemed to imply that elite uppermost class people in a number of countries and regions in the East and the West have used these havens to amass huge personal fortunes.

If the actions of avaricious individuals whose only pursuit in life is the feverish accumulation of money and property are indeed lawful, all we can do is look down on them and only criticize this institutional unfairness. Nevertheless, this is not the case when those taking advantage of tax havens are the people who have gained our respect and trust and play leading roles in national and social affairs. This would incite a serious uproar in the future. In his most important work of research on the rise and fall of world civilizations, A Study of History, British historian Toynbee claimed civilizations where the uppermost echelons driven by ego and the surrounding people followed them was brought to ruin. This risk deserves careful and deep consideration, even in modern civilization.

A more alarming aspect is how information spreads. One monthly periodical stated that “information seems to include intentional bias”. If we simply take information at face value, the actions of Mr. John Doe—the anonymous person who revealed the information about tax havens—and the reaction of the journalists in southern Germany can both be viewed as trustworthy and motivated by a deep sense of justice. However, there are probably others who believe that the biased content of their report is intended to turn the tables in the race for world supremacy.

Today, the world seems to be standing on the thin ice. In addition to this revelation about tax havens, there are also geopolitical crises and frequent terrorist attacks. Perhaps I sound overly pessimistic, but the nuclear energy field in which I work has become increasingly aware of the importance of nuclear security issues along with traditional safety measures. It is vital that we understand that the results of the progress of the latest civilization based on science & technology are closely and deeply related to the factors that characterize all the problems I have touched upon. Indeed, we cannot help but acknowledge that science & technology is a double-edged sword.

This begs the question: Are the civilizations created by human beings the result of a major mistake at some point in our history? The answer is most likely no, but I feel the direction in which we are currently headed is defined by the characteristics of human nature. The best way to verify this seems to be learning from recent anthropology, which tells us that Hominini includes three species: human beings, chimpanzees, and bonobos. Aside from a mere 1.6%, the DNA of human beings and chimpanzees is exactly the same. It has been proven that several species of human beings co-existed in the past, although only one species exists today. One of the defining characteristics of humankind is that it is the only species which tries to decisively kill and slaughter other living things, including their own kind, either on an individual basis or an organizational basis, if their existence becomes disadvantageous.

Another obvious feature is that human beings acquired language. The DNA of all species of organism has mutated repeatedly over the course of time, causing them to evolve and become the species they are today. Presumably, human beings also faced serious difficulties in surviving at some point during the evolutionary process, and ultimately developed the capacities for those features so that the species could survive. Since then, we have created civilizations that have produced countless examples of both good and evil things over the course of their development.

Human civilization has now reached the level where we can unlock the secrets of the universe, which gave birth to human beings. The world seems to crave the wisdom to save the human species and all its great abilities from extinction. To obtain this knowledge, I feel that we should draw upon the knowledge of physical anthropologists and cultural anthropologists.




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