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a.d.

Mesbah Javid <11111174NoSpam@3web.net> heeft geschreven in bericht
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>International Baha'i Library

Among them are (the teachings) concerning the question of
economics that all the members of the body politic may enjoy
through the working out of this solution the greatest
happiness, welfare and comfort without any harm or injury
attacking the general order of things.  Thereby no
difference or dissension will occur.  No sedition or
contention will take place.  This solution is this:
     First and foremost is the principle that to all the
members of the body politic shall be given the greatest
achievements of the world of humanity.  Each one shall have
the utmost welfare and well-being. To solve this problem we
must begin with the farmer; there will we lay a foundation
for system and order because the peasant class and the
agricultural class exceed other classes in the importance of
their service.  In every village there must be established a
general storehouse which will have a number of revenues.
     The first revenue will be that of the tenth or tithes.
     The second revenue (will be derived) from the animals.
     The third revenue, from the minerals, that is to say,
every mine prospected or discovered, a third thereof will go
to this vast storehouse.
     The fourth is this:  whosoever dies without leaving any
heirs all his heritage will go to the general storehouse.
     Fifth, if any treasures shall be found on the land they
should be devoted to this storehouse.
     All these revenues will be assembled in this
storehouse.
     As to the first, the tenths or tithes:  we will
consider a farmer, one of the peasants.  We will look into
his income.  We will find out, for instance, what is his
annual revenue and also what are his expenditures. Now, if
his income be equal to his expenditures, from such a farmer
nothing whatever will be taken.  That is, he will not be
subjected to taxation of any sort, needing as he does all
his income.  Another farmer may have expenses running up to
one thousand dollars we will say, and his income is two
thousand dollars.  From such an one a tenth will be
required, because he has a surplus.  But if his income be
ten thousand dollars and his expenses one thousand dollars
or his income twenty thousand dollars, he will have to pay
as taxes, one-fourth.  If his income be one hundred thousand
dollars and his expenses five thousand, one-third will he
have to pay because he has still a surplus since his
expenses are five thousand and his income one hundred
thousand.  If he pays, say, thirty-five thousand dollars, in
addition to the expenditure of five thousand he still has
sixty thousand left. But if his expenses be ten thousand and
his income two hundred thousand then he must give an even
half because ninety thousand will be in that case the sum
remaining.  Such a scale as this will determine allotment of
taxes.  All the income from such revenues will go to this
general storehouse.
     Then there must be considered such emergencies as
follows:  a certain farmer whose expenses run up to ten
thousand dollars and whose income is only five thousand, he
will receive necessary expenses from the storehouse.  Five
thousand dollars will be allotted to him so he will not be
in need.
     Then the orphans will be looked after, all of whose
expenses will be taken care of.  The cripples in the
village - all their expenses will be looked after.  The poor
in the village - their necessary expenses will be defrayed.
And other members who for valid reasons are incapacitated  -
the blind, the old, the deaf - their comfort must be looked
after.  In the village no one will remain in need or in
want.  All will live in the utmost comfort and welfare.  Yet
no schism will assail the general order of the body politic.
     Hence the expenses or expenditures of the general
storehouse are now made clear and its activities made
manifest.  The income of this general storehouse has been
shown.  Certain trustees will be elected by the people in a
given village to look after these transactions.  The farmers
will be taken care of and if after all these expenses are
defrayed any surplus is found in the storehouse it must be
transferred to the national treasury.
     This system is all thus ordered so that in the village
the very poor will be comfortable, the orphans will live
happily and well; in a word, no one will be left destitute.
All the individual members of the body politic will thus
live comfortably and well.
     For larger cities, naturally, there will be a system on
a larger scale.  Were I to go into that solution the details
thereof would be very lengthy.
     The result of this (system) will be that each
individual member of the body politic will live most
comfortably and happily under obligation to no one.
Nevertheless, there will be preservation of degree because
in the world of humanity there must needs be degrees.  The
body politic may well be likened to an army.  In this army
there must be a general, there must be a sergeant, there
must be a marshal, there must be the infantry; but all must
enjoy the greatest comfort and welfare.
     God is not partial and is no respecter of persons.  He
has made provision for all.  The harvest comes forth for
everyone.  The rain showers upon everybody and the heat of
the sun is destined to warm everyone.  The verdure of the
earth is for everyone.  Therefore there should be for all
humanity the utmost happiness, the utmost comfort, the
utmost well-being.
     But if conditions are such that some are happy and
comfortable and some in misery; some are accumulating
exorbitant wealth and others are in dire want - under such a
system it is impossible for man to be happy and impossible
for him to win the good pleasure of God. God is kind to all.
The good pleasure of God consists in the welfare of all the
individual members of mankind.
 (`Abdu'l-Baha:  Foundations of World Unity, pp. 39-41)

Each person in the community whose need is equal to his
individual producing capacity shall be exempt from taxation.
But if his income is greater than his needs, he must pay a
tax until an adjustment is effected.  That is to say, a
man's capacity for production and his needs will be
equalized and reconciled through taxation.  If his
production exceeds, he will pay a tax; if his necessities
exceed his production, he shall receive an amount sufficient
to equalize or adjust.  Therefore, taxation will be
proportionate to capacity and production, and there will be
no poor in the community.
 (`Abdu'l-Baha:  Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 217)

From the Writings of Shoghi Effendi:
Social inequality is the inevitable outcome of the natural
inequality of man.  Human beings are different in ability
and should, therefore, be different in their social and
economic standing.  Extremes of wealth and poverty should,
however, be abolished...
     The Master has definitely stated that wages should be
unequal, simply because that men are unequal in their
ability and hence should receive wages that would correspond
to their varying capacities and resources.
 (Shoghi Effendi:  Directives of the Guardian, p. 20)

From Letters Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi:
With regard to your question concerning the Baha'i attitude
towards labour problems; these cannot assuredly be solved,
Abdu'l-Baha tells us, through the sheer force of physical
violence.  Non-cooperation too, even though not accompanied
by acts of violence, is ineffective.  The conflict between
labour and capital can best be solved through the peaceful
and constructive methods of cooperation and of consultation.
 (Shoghi Effendi, quoted by the Universal House of Justice:
Lights of Guidance, pp. 427-428)

From the Writings of the Universal House of Justice:
The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of
acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability,
virtually on the brink of war.  Few societies have dealt
effectively with this situation.  The solution calls for the
combined application of spiritual, moral and practical
approaches.
 (The Universal House of Justice:  Lights of Guidance, p.
552)