Daily Archives: March 23, 2021

Note: All notices for events must be emailed to vcarey@delcotimes.com by Thursday at noon. We will not accept faxes or hard copies. All notices will appear online. Print is based on a space-available basis. Thank you.

Gatsbys Weekly lineup: 4936 Pennell Road, Aston. Tuesday, March 23, DJ Steve Kurtz Dance Party, 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 24, BINGO, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 25, Karaoke with Kurtz, 7 p.m. Friday, March 26, Side Hustle Band, 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 27, Retro 45, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, March 30, DJ Steve Kurtz Dance Party, 5 p.m. Dinner Comedy Show, 6:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 1, Karaoke with Kurtz, 7:30 p.m.

Lights Out Philly: Up to one billion birds die each year across the United States when they collide with buildings and windows, attractedby their bright artificial lights at night.Now, Bird Safe Philly, a coalition of nonprofits,has joined forces with the City of Philadelphia and the building industry to help mitigate the problem in Philadelphia situated in a migration corridor for birds along the Atlantic Flyway. Philadelphia is joining the national Lights Out initiative. This voluntary program involves turning off or blocking as many external and internal building lights as possible at night during migration seasons when birds are passing through the city by the millions. The first season of Lights Out Philly launchesApril 1, at the start of peak spring migrationand runs throughMay 31, when most wingedmigrants will havepassed through Philadelphia. In the fall, Lights Out Philly and peak migration will occur between Aug. 15 andNov. 15 as birds travel south.

Ridley High School Class of 1980: Reunion date change: November 13, 2021 - 40th Reunion - Springfield Country Club. Send updated contact information to idleyHighSchool1980@gmail.com. Join our Facebook page RIDLEY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1980. Discounted hotel rooms available at Courtyard Marriott Springfield if you mention RIDLEY HS CLASS of 1980.

Travel Club: Nashville and Memphis, Tenn. June 10-27, 8 days 7 nights, Double $1,525, triple $1,425. Trip includes.Deluxe motor coach transportation, Deluxe accommodations, Nashville, Night life dinner theater, Wild horse saloon for lunch and learn line dancing, Studio B tour, Country Hall of fame,Grand old Opry show great seats, 3 hour tour of Nashville, Time in town on Broadway and honky tonks. Memphis: Graceland tour, 3 hour tour of Memphis, Time on Beale street for shopping. All meals included. Gratuities included Trip was planned for last June had to cancel because of virus but it is a go for this year. We need to fill 4 more rooms for motor coach to take off If interested call for a flyer, 215-715-5004

Chester County Planning Commission: has prepared four upcoming events: Spring Planners Forum March 30; Open Space Summit April 29; Town Tours Kickoff/Juneteenth Commemoration June 17 We encourage you to join us for any or all of these events, and to share the information with others in your network as well. If you have any questions, please contact our office at ccplanning@chesco.org.

Linvilla Orchards Expert Fishing Derby: If you've always dreamed of catching the perfect trout, this is the opportunity to do just that. This derby is where you'll find our most competitive fishermen and fisherwomen alike. The lucky fisherperson who can reel in the biggest catch wins a whopping $250 cash grand prize. Orchard Lake is stocked with tons of the very best rainbow trout, with the largest up to 25". Each fisherman is allotted to keep one fish, and each additional fish kept is $4.99 a pound. No fishing license is required! Feel free to bring your own rod or they are available for rent and bait will be for sale. We will also be serving breakfast, lunch, and hot & cold drinks. This event is rain or shine, so there is no excuse to miss out on a fishtacular day at the lake. Pre-registration is required though our timed ticketing software - please visit http://www.linvilla.com to pre-register or for more information. All visitors over the age of two, are required to wear masks and follow all social distancing protocols. Please visit our website at http://www.linvilla.com for more information on our Covid protocol. March 27, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., Entry fee: $29.99 per fisherman. Phone: 610-876-7116, Email: info@linvilla.com, http://www.Linvilla.com

The Bryn Mawr College Dance Program: presents dancer and choreographer Nia Love and poet and critic Fred Moten in an embodied, textual, and theoretical dialogue at the intersections of their expansive work in abolition, fugitivity, and black radical traditions, hosted and curated by Assistant Professor in Dance Lela Aisha Jones March 25, 6-7:45 p.m. Described as a glitch in the matrix by Love, and in true shoot the ish form, these celebrated artists/scholars/critics/theorists will move through interdisciplinary call and response in dialogue and movement. Host and curator Jones notes, This event aims to transport us to a time when folks still sit on multimodal porches to bask in the awe of collective brilliance that emerges from dismantling formalities and engaging in blackness uncaptured. The Porch is part of the Nia Love: Centering Critical Blackness residency in the Bryn Mawr College Dance Program which received major support from the 360 Program and is in collaboration with the Performing Arts Series and the Mary Flexner Lectureship, which will present Moten in lectures on March 16 and March 23. Free and open to the public. Reservations are required at http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance. For more information, email reservations@brynmawr.edu or call 610-526-5300.

Delaware County Women Against Rape (DCWAR): offers free and confidential counseling in person and through our 24-hour hotline to victims of sexual assault. The agency provides medical, police and court accompaniment. DCWAR also facilitates support groups for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Adult Survivors of Sexual Assault, and Teen Survivors of Sexual Assault. Educational programs are available to schools, professionals and community groups. Any questions or for services please contact our 24-hour hotline at 610-566-4342.

Delaware County Women Against Rape and Crime Victim Services: offer police/court accompaniment, advocacy and free confidential counseling to victims of serious crimes including robbery, burglary, assault, arson and the surviving family members of homicide victims. Any questions or for services please contact Delaware County Women Against Rape and Crime Victim Services at 610-566-4386.

Scholarships available: In this time of disruption due to COVID-19, its more important than ever to celebrate young people making a difference through volunteer service. Through November 10, Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) are calling on Pennsylvania youth volunteers to apply for scholarships and national recognition through The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Pennsylvania students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for 2021 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteering within the past 12 months virtually or otherwise. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com.

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Here is this week's community calendar | Lifestyle | delcotimes.com - The Delaware County Daily Times

THERE have been renewed calls for reform of the House of Lords, after someone noticed as they do, every so often that it doesnt conform in every particular with the institutional models favoured by, say, the Electoral Reform Society.

These calls, as regular and traditional a part of British life as Derby Day or Trooping the Colour, remind me of the rich tapestry of our history, repeating and renewing itself, always evolving and yet somehow always fundamentally the same.

I refer, naturally, not to the House of Lords itself, which I dont care about all that much, but to the glorious heritage and pageantry of calls for the reform of the House of Lords, which date back centuries, yet still thrive.

The latest excuse is provided by the fact that Norman Fowler (as he used to be) is stepping down as Lord Speaker, and two candidates to replace him Lady Hayter and Lord Alderdice think the remaining hereditary peers should now be removed. But this is merely the latest bit of tinkering in a process that has been going on for nearly 500 years.

READ MORE ANDREW McKIE:Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: They made their choice. Stop blaming it on anyone else

The earliest reforms were conducted by literally axing a few earls here and there, but there were systematic alterations to the Houses make-up as early as the 1530s, when Thomas Cromwell got shot of the abbots.

A century later, the rest of the Lords Spiritual (ie, the bishops, a group people are still trying to get rid of today) were chucked out under the Clergy Act 1640. There then came what you might think of as a fairly conclusive reform abolishing the Lords altogether which happened in 1649.

It soon became clear, however, that not having a House of Lords was a serious obstacle to politicians and the public exercising their historic, inalienable right to call for its reform or abolition. Accordingly, it was restored in 1660, and for good measure, the following year they stuck the bishops back in it.

After the Act of Union, the English and Scottish peerages were abandoned for a Peerage of Great Britain, and a similar thing happened in 1801, when it turned into the peerage of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In both cases a fudge, similar to the one that has led to the survival of the last few hereditary peers, was devised for Scottish and Irish peers to elect some of their number.

Then there were all sorts of changes: admitting Irish bishops (1801); banning life peers (1856); banning Irish bishops (1871); creating law lords (1876); removing Welsh bishops (1920); removing Irish peers (gradually, from 1922); creating life peers (1958); as well as things like admitting female hereditary peers, letting hereditary peers renounce their titles sometimes to get new, different life peerages immediately afterwards which all happened in the 1960s.

Between then and the Blair government, we effectively stopped creating hereditary peerages and, in 1999, Mr Blair got rid of most of them. He then perfected reform by appointing 374 new peers on his own say-so.

But 92 hereditaries remained as a compromise. Currently, they elect new members from eligible peers whenever one dies or, since another reform in 2014, resigns (something peers couldnt previously do), though, because covid has prevented elections, theyre a few short at the moment.

The 1999 reform, simultaneously the most comprehensive, the most botched, and the most illogical and indefensible, by any side on any grounds, was largely the work of Lord Wakeham who, as it happens, glibly assured me a few months before it happened that there would be no problems and no compromises. His plan was amended by people like Lord Cranbourne, who ensured there were as many problems and compromises getting it through as possible.

That illustrated a bizarre fact that Lord Wakeham was initially determined to ignore: though almost every politician of almost every party has agreed for more than a century that the fundamental basis for the Lords is unjustifiable and illogical, every plan to reform it has been flawed or frustrated. And in contradictory ways: either by making it less effective, or more effective.

The one virtue of an appointed house is that you can get all sorts of distinguished experts in their fields notably lawyers, but also scientists, businessmen, people from the arts, and various regional, community (including minority community) and faith leaders. The last, even if more contentious, are not these days confined to the Church of England. Actually, even some of the hereditary peers have such expertise or experience.

I cant see much of a case for keeping them, though. But the case for appointed peers is more nuanced. The current appointments system is not democratic, and often bloody awful, but its possible to see why its useful for a revising chamber.

READ MORE ANDREW McKIE:The government is dangerously authoritarian, but the public may be even worse

And, at the moment, thats all the Upper House is. It cannot create legislation; only hold it up or point out flaws in it. By convention (since 1911), it cant stop money bills, or things that were in the governments manifesto, though many members had a good go after the Brexit vote to the approval of lots of people who normally complain about the Lords undemocratic nature.

If, however, we did the logical thing and made it democratic, it creates a different problem: paradoxically, one of democratic accountability. Parliamentary democracy currently operates on the basis that the Commons, being elected, is the font of power: it challenges the executive and, while it may receive suggestions for amendments from the Lords, can ultimately overrule it.

A legitimate, elected, second chamber would remove that presumption; there would be no justification for the Lords only to advise and revise. Of course, a way round this could no doubt be found. Other countries (lots of them) have bicameral set-ups that work. But it could be done only by tearing up every aspect of our entire system of government Commons as well as Lords and starting again, probably with new roles, checks and balances for every branch of the state from ministers to the judiciary.

Even in the short history of the renewed Scottish parliament, its clear that newly devised mechanisms like an electoral system that would prevent an overall majority, or the way the parliament as a whole holds ministers to account dont always work as intended or predicted. Its why were still tinkering with the Lords, half a millennium after we started doing it.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.

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Andrew McKie: Calling for reform of the Lords is as traditional a part of British life as Trooping the Colour - HeraldScotland

Enab Baladi Khawla Hefzy

With the acceleration in the Syrian Pounds devaluation (SYP)which plummeted, reaching an all-time low of 4,000 to US dollar (USD) economists demanded amendments to the decree on criminalizing those who deal in US dollar in areas controlled by the Syrian regime.

On 23 February, the Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities proposed amending the decree on criminalizing those who deal in US dollar in the Syrian regime-controlled areas. They also proposed finding an appropriate legal mechanism to meet the peoples needs for foreign currencies without violating the decree and the monetary and financial regulations.

The Commission called for the amendment of Decree No. 3 of 2020, which criminalizes dealing in US dollar, and establishing official outlets for economic actors to trade in this currency.

The unique proposal coincided with an unprecedented slide in the SYP value against the USD. One US dollar exceeded 4,000 SYP on the black market in the Syrian capital of Damascus this March.

Meanwhile, according to its bulletin, the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) remained stable at 1,256 SYP per USD.

Enab Baladi spoke to several economic experts, seeking their views on the possibility of canceling Decree No. 3 and the expected impact on the exchange rate of the SYP against the USD if a decision is taken.

On 18 January 2020, the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, issued Decree NO.3, imposing stricter penalties on those dealing in currencies other than the SYP.

Karam Shaar, a Syrian economist and researcher at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that even the trader who conducts business dealings legally, pays customs clearance fees on state-permitted imported goods, and sells them inside Syria legally, is now breaking the law according to Decree No.3. Furthermore, traders who engage in USD-financed buying and selling operations in a bank outside Syria are also violating the law.

Shaar explained that the decree considers people who deal with banks outside Syria as criminals, causing a dollar-phobia among those who deal in US dollar. This decree has started to impact the businesses of companies negatively.

Firas Shabou, who holds a Ph.D. in banking and financial sciences, describes the criminalization of dealing in US dollars as a security decision, noting that it does not serve Syrias economic interest.

Shabou said that there are no financial institutions in Syria, neither a securities commission nor a stock exchange. Furthermore, Syrias trading volume is so shameful, and that CBSs statements are issued in a security tone. The CBS, for example, would often say we will hold people accountable, or we will strike with an iron fist.

Decree No. 3 stipulates that any person dealing in currencies other than the SYP in commercial transactions shall be sentenced to temporary hard labor for no less than seven years.

They shall be punished with a fine equivalent to twice the value of the payments or the amount in use or paid, as well as the services or goods offered in addition to confiscating payments, or sums involved or precious metals for the benefit of the CBS.

Firas Shabou pointed out that there are those who benefit from the current situation in Syria; they are the war merchants, and some of those affiliated with the Syrian-regime, Russia, and Iran.

Shabou considered that no one conducts his business in US dollars in the Syrian regime-held areas, unless he is supported by the Russians or Iranians, achieving enormous revenues.

The CBS supports merchants by selling them US dollars at a subsidized price (1 USD =1,250 SYP) to encourage them to import certain goods.

However, these merchants themselves price their imported goods based on the black market exchange rate (1 USD=4,000). Despite this, they are not subject to prosecution because they are the foundations of the state, according to Shabou.

On 24 January, the CBS issued the new 5,000 SYP banknotes for circulation. The Syrian government bet that the SYP exchange rate against the USD and the prices of materials in the market would not be affected by the new denomination release. However, the events on the ground proved the opposite.

Shabou said, a state of comfort and ease would prevail in the local Syrian markets if Decree NO.3 is canceled. The traders will get the US dollar at a fair price.

The economist added that the amendment or abolition of the decree would give the traders and remittances easy access to the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. This would work better for the markets and revive the economic life to some extent.

However, Since it is not allowed to deal in US dollars, people have to take a risk and carry out their business transactions in US dollars. Therefore, a margin of risk will be added to the value of the US dollar exchange rate.

Shabou expected that there will be a significant rise in the exchange rate of the USD against the SYP. In other words, the government found a solution to the problem of preventing dealing in US dollars. However, another problem was encountered: resetting the exchange rates and stopping the SYPs continuous depreciation. This is because the demand for hard currencies will be endless, while the supply is not sufficient to meet the demand.

The World Bank estimates that the remittance flows reached 1.6 billion USD annually in Syria, Syrian economist and researcher Karam Shaar told Enab Baladi in a previous interview.

Remittances are not sent through the Syrian regimes official channels because the Syrian government sets the SYPs exchange rate at a very low level1,256 SYP per USDcompared to the black market price.

Firas Shabou believes that if Decree No.3 is abolishedto allow dealing in USD and keep the exchange rate of the remittances US dollars stable, according to the CBS official rate setthe decision would be pointless. This will create a growing demand for the US dollar.

Shabou explained that the state hides its weakness with the supply by imposing security measures.

The state cannot control the exchange rate to deal with any new reality because it does not have the necessary tools, such as injecting or withdrawing US dollars.

Economists contacted by Enab Baladi ruled out that the Syrian regime would cancel Decree No. 3.

Dr. Karam Shaar said, the effect of canceling Decree No. 3, if it is taken, will be limited and will not improve the economic situation very much.

Shaar pointed out that the amendment to the decree, if it occurs, must be related to traders dealings with banks outside Syria, with which they carry out their commercial transactions legally.

Firas Shabou explained that the economic situation in Syria is absolutely unsound.

There are no financial or monetary foundations, the government is empty, and the economic sectors outside the control of the Syrian regime are rented to the Russians and Iranians, he added.

Shabou said that any strategy or decision would not bear fruit because the Syrian regime does not make a single decision unless it is in its interest or the interest of its pillars, not what is in the best of official channels.

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What are the implications of amending decree criminalizing dealing in US dollars? - Enab Baladi

The small village got ownership and management rights of the three village ponds in 2011, 70 years after its independence

The villagers ofDongartamashi inGadchiroli, Maharashtra, got ownership of the three ponds in their village in 2011, under theScheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. In the decade since, the tiny village of about 60 familieswas flush with profits, mostly from high fish yield.

The impact of the windfall was visibe across sectors like education, agriculture, waterwater availability. And today, the profits even contribute to paying for tents and music at their weddings.

We sell the fish to the residents of our village at Rs 100 per kilogram and to others at Rs150 per kg. The money is kept with the Gram Sabha. Since 2013, every year we sell around 15-20 quintals of fish and the village earns around Rs 3-4 lakh, said Manik Kisan Masram, a member of the community forest rights (CFR) management committee.

This was possible because of theScheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as FRA.

Under FRA, Gram Sabhas can collectively claim ownership and management rights over traditionally used forest land and water bodies.

The Gondia district was historically part of the region ruled over by Gond kings and then by the Bhonsle dynasty of Nagpur. Both the dynasties, according to historian Bhangya Bhukya, professor of history at the University of Hyderabad, laid special emphasis on creating water conservation structures like ponds and tanks in the area.

These are the same ponds that villages still use today, although new tank and ponds have also been constructed in the region, especially under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

When this area was still part of the Central Province, the Madhya Bharat Zamindari Abolition Act, 1951 transferred the ownership of these ponds to the irrigation department.

While the villagers had usufruct rights over these ponds to use water for irrigation, the government department auctioned off the fish.

The coming of FRA changed this and with it, the financial status of the village.

The idea was that if there are forests, there will be water in the ponds and if there is water in the ponds, then agriculture will be possible in the village, said Dilip Gode, executive director of Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society (VNCS), a Nagpur-based non-profit.

Once the Gram Sabha had the ownership over the pond, they created a management plan in 2013 for their CFR area with the help of VNCS in 2013. Activities like de-siltation and deepening were listed in the plan.

The de-siltation activity was undertaken with funds from private companies under Corporate Social Responsibility and the Gram Sabha, said Gode.

The development work increased the water availability in the village and the fish yield.

With more water availability, the agricultural yield on my two-acre field has increased to 12-13 quintals from 5-6 quintals. I am making Rs 30,000 more every year, said Dhanjaay Yaswant Madawe. His children now go to a private school instead of the governments Adivasi Ashram school, he added proudly.

The success of the fish sale prompted the villagers to set up a Macchi Beej Kendra (fish egg centre) in 2015.

We used the money from the fish sales to set up the beej kendra. Every year, we sell around 300 kilograms of fish eggs for other cultivators and we charge around Rs 500 per kg, said Mesram.

The Dongartamashi Gram Sabha has also constructed a tank along a nearby river and a pipeline from there to the pond to recharge water, all at its own expense.

Ownership rights for over 150 ponds have been given in around 90 villages in Gondia and Gadchiroli districts, and in all of those villages, lives of people have improved, said Gode.

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World Water Day: Fish from common ponds help fund weddings in this Maharashtra village - Down To Earth Magazine

The current administration came to power with a mandate to shift the countrys fiscal mix toward a lower tax burden. However, tax cuts are not an objective in themselves, because they dont come for free.

If tax cuts are not implemented as part of a well thought-out plan, they carry the cost of either reduced government spending or higher debt. As such, tax cuts, when proposed and implemented, need to be based on solid macroeconomic foundations. Ultimately, a key objective of changes in taxation is to influence relative prices, thus indirectly impacting the relative allocation of economic resources and agent behavior.

The government was called to serve three main economic objectives:

First, to accelerate economic growth and to create new, well-paying jobs. This means prioritizing tax relief on labor and capital, not consumption and wealth.

Second, to reduce tax evasion. Tax evasion is not only socially unjust, but also leads to a lower economic growth rate, because it creates distortions in the allocation of resources.

Third, high growth rates that do not unduly burden the countrys external balance. Greece cannot devalue its currency. As such, tax policy needs to be indirectly supportive of exports, and act as a headwind to imports.

Our tax (and economic policy more generally) has been developed in those three directions.

The first objective of the government is supporting legal salaried employment. This is why we prioritized a reduction in social security contributions, which is one of the most efficient tax shifts. It acts as an incentive for the creation of new jobs. It reduces the attractiveness of tax evasion. And it is not burdensome toward our external balance.

The reduction in social security contributions by nearly 4 percentage points to date is an emblematic policy shift of the government. Additional interventions might be required when the necessary fiscal space emerges, possibly also involving a lowering in the so-called contribution ceiling.

The temporary relaxation of fiscal rules during the pandemic has allowed the government to implement its policies faster than would otherwise be the case, also creating the conditions for an applied study of the fiscal and economic impact of such changes. It is my strong belief that the reduction in social security contributions will end up having a much smaller fiscal cost than a simple, arithmetic calculation would suggest, as was also concluded by a recent Bank of Greece research study.

Let me also highlight here another reform that did not, in my opinion, receive its due attention, and that is the so-called Vroutsis reform delinking social security contributions from declared income for those self-employed, thus removing incentives for tax evasion and boosting declared income.

Salaried employment is also being supported by other structural reforms. The transition, for example, in the second pillar of the pension system toward a fully funded defined contribution model. And the upcoming flagship labor market reform bill.

Another emblematic tax reform of the government has been the suspension, and ultimate abolition, of the so-called solidarity income tax surcharge. A tax that was imposed during the crisis, it acted as a headwind toward the creation of jobs that form the backbone of any large inward investment, thus indirectly negatively impacting those lower on the income ladder, while also incentivizing tax evasion. We expect the ultimate fiscal cost to also be smaller than first envisaged.

Let me also mention the flat tax rate that was introduced for stock options and restricted stock units as part of variable employee compensation, a framework that is especially important for startups and tech companies, while also better aligning employer and employee incentives.

Three tax regimes were introduced to attract non-residents: First, the introduction of a non-dom regime, as well as the recent introduction of a framework for family offices targeting global wealth. Second, the new regime for non-resident pensioners. And thirdly, the incentives for the relocation of employment into the country.

There has been the occasional criticism that such regimes are unfair because they do not apply to local residents. However, attracting non-residents can only have a positive impact on tax revenues since, by definition, such tax revenues are nonexistent today, particularly in the context of the countrys large brain-drain. This, in itself, creates additional fiscal room. In our view, all of this is low-hanging fruit whose adoption only ideological stubbornness had prevented in the past.

After labor, let us now move on to capital. The government moved swiftly in lowering the corporate income tax rate as well as the dividend tax rate. We have also created a framework for superabsorption (tax credits) for three categories of capital expenditure: research & development, green and digital. All three areas are key priorities of Greeces Recovery and Resilience Plan which will be presented in its totality in April.

Climate change remains one of the biggest challenges, also for tax policy, at a global level. Significant tax changes are likely to be required over the medium term if our planet is to achieve its ambitious climate objectives. Let me conclude by highlighting some additional challenges for tax policy in the coming years. The below reflect to some extent my own personal opinions, and not necessarily those of the government.

First, the continued battle against tax evasion. There is no magic wand to wave. Rather it requires a lot of small, and larger, changes. Each change feeds into the others. For example, the experience of other cities around the world teaches us that the use of credit and debit cards as means of payment on public transport will increase card penetration in other areas too. This is in the process of being implemented.

In 2021 we legislated the requirement that 30% of individuals income is spent using electronic means. Electronic payments could be extended to other areas, for example the payment of rent.

Obligatory electronic invoicing and electronic bookkeeping is another flagship reform, which, in itself, requires digital investment and also digital training. This will unfold throughout 2021. Among others, we are also planning for the use of artificial intelligence and big data in the design of tax audits.

Second, incentives for declared employment. The marginal effective tax rate leads toward negative income when shifting from undeclared to declared work for lower income levels. The so-called Pissarides report has some very interesting proposals in that regard. It is an issue of economic development, but primarily an issue of social justice. We have the obligation to help and support those who want to climb the economic ladder.

Third, increasing the average size of Greek enterprises. Half of employment in our country is created by firms that employ up to nine employees, the highest share in the whole of the European Union. This has a negative impact on productivity, on the ability to export, to fight tax evasion, to secure financing, and even to promote best labor practices, whether to fight workplace discrimination or to observe labor laws more generally.

Encouraging cooperation, mergers and acquisitions, as well as truly supporting micro and small and medium-size enterprises in their desire to grow is of paramount importance. Populism keeps our economy down and ultimately works against the interests of those more vulnerable.

Lastly, I would also like the external account to feature more in our public debates. Lowering consumption taxes on goods that are primarily imported does not make sense.

I end my comments on an optimistic note. The changes that have been implemented in tax policy are, in my opinion, widespread and important. The global pandemic and the freeze in some economic activity have, to a large degree, muted their impact. However, as soon as the post-pandemic economy emerges, I have no doubt that these structural tax changes will flourish, leading to significantly faster economic growth.

Of course, our relentless drive to transform and reform our economy has to continue, and will continue, always based on economic fundamentals, and always driven by solid theoretical principles.

Alex Patelis is chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

See more here:

How shifting the country's fiscal mix will help the Greek economy - http://www.ekathimerini.com

About a year ago, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape caseAkshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32were hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail at daybreak. The jail authorities carried out the execution swiftly, without fuss, as most hangings are, hours after the Supreme Court rejected the mercy pleas of the four convicts. The verdict and the subsequent execution evoked mass laudatory sentimentsthey were, after all, the boys we wanted to kill.

Did or will their hanging deter Indian men from raping, killing or brutalising women? Is capital punishment, abolished in most nations (and retained by 58 countries, with China being the most active death penalty country in the world), more effective in deterring crimes than, say, a life sentence?

There are no simple answers to these questions because the death penalty is the most severe punishment permitted in our criminal justice systema system notorious for its dubious evidence-collecting processes and minimal access of citizens belonging to poor and marginalised sections of society to legal representation. But what the Nirbhaya hangings did unequivocally do was throw Indias death row abolitionist movement off course by decades.

Dialogues around the death penalty in Indiain media, academia or in public activismare scarce. The promise of retributive justice, or at least the perception of it, effectively buries the moral-philosophical question at its heart: Should anyone or any entity, even the state, have a right to end a human beings life?

In this context, the work of Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre based out of National Law University, Delhi, is groundbreaking. Their work, which includes a staggering archive of recordings with hundreds of people on death row either awaiting their execution or acceptance of their mercy pleas, offers powerful glimpses into the emotions, the psychological knots, the inexplicable madness and the dire social circumstances that lead human beings to heinous crimes.

Jahnavi Misras anthology of fictionalised stories, The Punished: Stories of Death-Row Prisoners in India, which is based on some of these recordings, is therefore a book that forces us to think beyond whats deserved, whats justice and whats a lessonto think about what our standards of collective morality often obfuscate, to think humanly about the people we want to suffer and wait inexorably for their deaths. These are vignettes, not stories. They are evocative peeks into the emotional and social maelstroms that can propel people into unimaginable brutality. Misra fictionalises real stories based on the recordings and effectively retains the lens on the severity of the crimes. It is a delicate balance, and through the right details, the stories become compelling.

Chanda, known as the tantric gurumata, who executed a gruesome sacrifice of a two-year-old child in the name of a religious cult, had joined her tantric guru husband in his practice as a means to avert domestic abuse. Sanjeev Sharma, hanged for raping a minor girl, vacillated between dread, boredom, numbness and fear after being brutalised by the police and ignored by his own lawyer given to him through the states ineffectual legal aid system.

The Punished, by Jahnavi Misra, published by HarperCollins India, 176 pages, 499. ((HarperCollins India/Twitter))

Manpreet, a man whose family resented his friendship with another man, killed his entire family one by one during the course of a sultry night and willingly admitted to his crime after his friend was killed while on parole. Rukhsar, a woman from Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, was ridiculed for her dark skin and physical appearance all her life. When her family members threatened to kill her if she married the only man, a Hindu, who wanted to love and accept her for who she was, the entire family was found dead, their throats slit to precision.

All the characters in this anthology are people who dont understand the workings of the legal system and are unaware of their own rights. They are legal, social and cultural pariahs. Because government legal aid is poor and uncaring, lawyers dont invest enough in their cases for a fair hearing. Many of them are incoherent after relentless police brutality. Their families face economic and societal ruin for generations.

In jail, Rukhsar receives a letter from a man from her past who wishes to adopt her son. Misra interprets from the interview with Rukhsar, in her retelling of a moment of joy before she goes to the gallows: She knew that the world considered her evil, so then what was this letter doing on her bed? How did this pure and beautiful gesture find its way into her extraordinarily ugly life? She did not believe in god, but for a fleeting moment felt a warm golden grace light her from within.

These stories arent, in any way, complete portraits. They capture only the essence of the humanity that the interviews reveal, but what Misras book does is put the spotlight on the groundbreaking work that Project 39A has been doing in Indiato trigger new conversations on legal aid, torture, forensics, mental health and the death penalty.

Among their several publications, Project 39A, under the leadership of Anup Surendranath and his team of passionate lawyers and students, has brought out a set of books called Matter of Judgement, which lucidly explains the findings of a study they conducted with 60 former judges of the Supreme Court to understand the reasons they saw for both abolition and retention of the death penalty, what the rarest of rare doctrine, which is applied in most death penalty cases, meant to them and to locate all these discussions in the context of the criminal justice system in its entirety.

The study concluded, among other things such as the unpreparedness of the Indian psyche to abolish capital punishment, that at best, it is retributive instinct in response to brutality that drives legal discourse on the death penalty, rather than the goal of deterrence of crime.

In celebrating tough verdicts, have we then become more sensitive or more coarse? The assiduous work of Project 39A suggests that reform and rehabilitation of hard criminals is the only constructive response.

Sanjukta Sharma is a Mumbai-based journalist and screenwriter.

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Stories of the people we want to kill - Livemint