Taxation is the key to both economic development or stagnation and continued enrichment for the few and misery for the many. But before this is turned to an instrument of justice and prosperity for all, a change of mind is necessary. Our general human condition reminds me of the well-known cave story that Plato uses to show common understanding. In his work The Republic, Plato has Socrates describe a group of people who have lived shackled to the wall of a cave and facing a blank wall for all of their life.

They watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. These shadows are the prisoners’ reality.  The inmates of this cave do not even have the desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life.

At some point, one of the prisoners frees himself, goes out of the cave and sees the real light of the sun and the objects of the real world. He then returns to tell his fellow men. But as they all have considered the shadows to be a reality for their whole life, they find it very difficult, even impossible, to believe his story.

 We all are prisoners in the cave of our own mind

The multitude of impressions we have from the rime our birth, the various emotions, the thoughts and ideas all create a thick-walled cell that we are imprisoned in. Thus, we see the world through a window that permits the entry of very little light. The smaller the window, the less light that enters into our minds. But, most importantly, we are unaware of this condition.

https://www.neweurope.eu/article/land-value-tax-for-social-peace/

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