Jason Gots
BigThink.com
What's the Big Idea?
Sophal Ear has devoted his life to the economic and social well being of developing countries like his native Cambodia. Having escaped the Khmer Rouge as a small child disguised (by his resourceful mother) as a Vietnamese expat, he’s driven by the memory of 1.7 million of his countrymen (including his father), who were killed in Pol Pot’s “revolution.” Ear, who emerged from total poverty to attend Berkeley and Princeton, becoming a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, studies post-crisis developing economies.
Of all people, Ear seems a likely supporter of foreign aid to struggling nations. Instead, he argues that too many developing countries have become dependent on the kindness of strangers, and that excessive reliance on foreign aid causes political strife and corruption. What countries like Cambodia need, Ear has found, are healthy industries and the infrastructure to support them. The governments that depend most heavily on foreign aid, he says, tend to have the lowest tax revenues. For corrupt leaders, low taxation is politically expedient – it makes them less accountable to their people. Tax the people, and you have a direct incentive to invest in their future.
What’s the Significance?
Taxation doesn’t always translate directly into representation, but at the very least it signifies a national government’s commitment to and partnership with its people. Ear isn’t proposing a total cessation of foreign aid – this would obviously be disastrous for the poorest countries whose GDP can’t support meaningful tax revenues. He suggests instead that foreign aid must be “tied to improved domestic and tax revenue performance.” In other words, aid-receiving governments must demonstrate their active pursuit of economic independence.
Assuming for the moment that even representative governments act primarily out of (in their case, national) self-interest, the Machiavellian question for foreign-aid-granting nations is whether you’re better off with an indentured servant or a partner in trade. At the best of times, managing other nations from abroad is financially and politically expensive. It’s also likely, in the long run, to limit growth and productivity in the emerging nation in unpredictable ways. In the current economic crisis, leading countries can ill afford the short-term costs of heavy, ongoing investment in emerging nations or the long-term, global costs of placing limits on what they can become.
10 comments:
agree with professor sophal ear. i think cambodia ought to expeditiously reform our tax system. tax money collected is like a reinvestment into the country's development in modernizing the infrastructure, social development reforms or improvement for what is lack of, etc, etc..., i mean the list goes on and on, considering cambodia had to start from stretch all over again after the stupid KR regime's destruction of cambodia and its educated population. we know the KR regime were the world's stupidest and dumbest regime of that time for killing its own people and destroy its own country all in the name of that useless "revolution." anyways, reforming cambodia's tax system will help to fund the national development and national reconstruction of the country's infrastructure, etc... ordinary people may not see the importance of taxation, but educated people and politicians should be able to see the essence of taxation for cambodia. that said, of course, taxation should be based on wealth, the size of the real property, customs, businesses, tariff, etc, etc... you name them. anway, i do agree with dr. sophal ear on this one. god bless cambodia.
Sophal, I saw you in TED. You and I are one of the survivor of the KR regime.
This particle idea is great to reform the CPP, Cambodian government. How can one change the Hardcore evildoer from the KR regime, which most are holding title in the public office?
This is an excellent point, this will make a government official a public servant verse personal servant. Slowly we will get will get there, keep the good idea coming.
LoveKhmer
Very Good Idea! but very much less effective and efficiency in Cambodia.
Why? because the corruption.
set up this and that, making this change, that change, and should look to a good example of this and that, The current goevernment is not in the position to do such these things. What they are looking and expecting to get handsomely loyal oil and mine revenues. Hopefullly, they can use to build the country. They learn to think a long term plan within the lifespan of the leader but not the future generations down the road.
Good and realistic idea, but it won't be able to apply in Cambodia.
It sounds like "Plom Sneng Oy Krabey Sdab".
First, look at the knowledge of Mr. dumb ass strong shit man. Can he understand anything besides insulting Khmer people as animals?
Second, Cambodia is not independent. The expansionist Vietnam does not want to see Cambodia prosper.
Third, to remove this puppet government from free and fair election is the top priority and then brewing all the genius ideas into Cambodian society.
Stupid IDEA!!
Taxation reform? How will this benefit Hun Sen and his associates? If anything, they will never allow such law to pass through, because then all their assets will be transparent.
cambodia must manage our tax system properly because tax funds can help cambodia in a lot of ways where money is lacked, that is if cambodia put the right people or expert in the cambodia's version of internal revenue service (irs). god bless cambodia.
what comes first? taxation or a professional, functional bureaucracy? the chicken or the egg. it's the chicken coz "mummy knows best". in other words get the strong man to reform himself and set example first. well, a swe khmers say chham ses doss sneng teou!!
putting a good management skill to use in the right place is key to improvement in cambodia tax system, i think! send lots of smart khmer students to study the management skills and communication skills at american schools, then bring those much needed skills back to cambodia. that's what cambodia needs.
3:14 AM, Then to be paid at $100-$500 per month? Then selling morals values by taking bribes? Taking Hun Sen sides mean safety or against him means death/jail sentences?
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