The 5th Empire - Equality

A popular myth among rulers and their subjects is that taxation is necessary for equality. Without taxation, some people will end up owning everything while others will be slaves to these masters. We must therefore have rulers who tax us so that equality is ensured. However, this ignores the fact that it is the corporate structure of state run society that is behind the most glaring inequalities. The state favours large corporations over small entrepreneurs. It also favours capital over labour. The poor and the middle class are put at a disadvantage relative to established industry owners.

Subsidies, which are financed by taxation, is funnelled more readily to established companies than to up and coming ones. This makes taxation a bigger burden on the less well connected than it is on the politically well connected. When taxes are increased, subsidies tend to increase too, thus cancelling out the effect on the rich. This makes taxing the rich a hollow slogan. The added tax burden never hits the politically connected elite. They are protected by subsidies and corporate law.

Central banking, also a creation of the state, erodes the purchasing power of state sanctioned currencies. This hits the lower classes the hardest because it erodes the value of their labour and bank savings while simultaneously inflating the value of capital and financial assets.

Credit expansion through fractional reserve banking benefits the rich in that they get cheaper loans than others. The more credit issued, the better off the rich are relative to the poor.
Yet, rarely do we hear politicians suggest that we should abolish central banks, fractional reserve banking, subsidies and corporate law.

In contrast, the 5th Empire have no corporate laws, no subsidies, very little credit expansion and virtually no inflation. The four biggest engines for inequality are not present.

Inequality - By Evstafiev - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link