Tag: #Government & Taxation

Belgium's Prime Minister has admitted that authorities have lost control of Brussels suburb of Molenbeek. Senior Fellow at the Itinera Institute, Bilal Benyaich says extremists there are a minority, but a visible one. SABRA LANE, PRESENTER: The Brussels suburb of Molenbeek is emerging as a key staging post for the bloody violence. Two of the attackers and three other…

A hail of statistics and forecasts from the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB) is confronting us with an undeniable truth – the economy is not recovering fast enough. Growth rates, though positive, are mediocre. And the main indicator of economic recovery, namely anticipatory purchases and investments, i.e. inflation, has been revised downwards, despite the enormous injections of liq…

The creation of the euro was a purely political decision. There is nothing surprising about that – subjecting a population to a currency is a regalian right. In any case, a currency has to be backed by pledges of confidence that only the State can provide. It is as though the currency were somehow guaranteed by “psychic” units of individual trust in the State which, once gathe…

The unthinkable has happened – we are entering a period of negative interest rates. This startling situation began last year, when the ECB applied negative interest rates to the deposits that were placed with it. A negative interest rate is tantamount to making the private banks pay in order to place their liquidities in the ECB. It is as if the ECB were taking such good care of the depos…

Good governance is a very extensive concept which relates to both the tasks of the government, the reached result and also the way a result was pursued, as the cost of it. Obviously,  good governance is on the agenda of Itinera. Governments and their activities are important, because of their democratically legitimated directing interventions, what they determine their priorities and objec…

Wiens brood men eet, wiens woord men spreekt, luidt het spreekwoord. Het gaat alvast niet op voor Griekenland. Het land dat al jaren virtueel bankroet is en alleen overeind staat door de harde maar gulle hand van de ECB, het IMF en Europa – de fameuze “Troika” – heeft dus massaal gestemd om die hand af te bijten en hun nieuwe leiders lopen alvast blaffend Europa rond. Of…

In its New Year Letter, Itinera presents its ten wishes for 2016. With contributions of Leo Neels, Ivan Van de Cloot, Marc De Vos, Bilal Benyaich, Johan Albrecht, Jean Hindriks, Alexandre Simons en Simon Ghiotto

Itinera insists that the debate on tax revenue must start with the goals. We will not escape the need to do more with less: more focus, quality, and effectiveness. An intelligent tax shift can be help and can already generate funds during this government. Een vakbond die het sociaal overleg boycot zolang de regering zijn agenda voor vermogensbelasting niet overneemt. De voorzitt…

The situation in our country shows the urgency of a tax shift away from taxes on labour. We observe that despite all the recommendations of other instances, also this government doesn’t take this challenge seriously. The acceptance to pay taxes among which on capital gains will increase significantly if there is a credible perspective on a more efficient public sector. The moment is there…

Interview with Ivan Van de Cloot with reference to his new book 'Roekeloos' (Dutch