In the very old days, when a country – usually a kingdom then – had a need for some development money, either to build a new and splendid castle or to expand the nation’s navy or, more prosaically, to keep up the living style so as to impress allies and quell any unhealthy ambitions from challengers; it had the obvious choice between, as nowadays, taxing and borrowing.

Both had their limits though.

Taxation had its limits because the tax base was narrow and weak, besides which the king would hesitate to tax the people who either propped up his military options with contributions of soldiers and horses to his army or who, alternatively, solidified his power with unctions underpinning the divinity of his throne. Hence taxes like the “gabelle” in France , upstream of 1789, which was a tax on the population’s salt consumption, which therefore nobody could theoretically escape from, but which the nobility, the clergy and a few other privileged parties (I could not find out if the money lenders were amongst them…) were actually exempted from!

I sure do not want to give ideas to anyone here, but the “portes et fenetres” tax instituted in 1798 was more progressive, at least to start with. Being set up by minister Ramel after the French revolution, it was actually not called a tax at all, but a “contribution” which apparently sounded less “ancien regime”. As a result of this tax on “fresh air and sunlight” as its opponents countered, the “rational economic men” of France simply boarded up or walled up most of their house openings, so much so that Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables, quotes 346,000 houses holding but just one door… Imagine diseases (and Covid) in such an environment! The “contribution” nevertheless lasted until 1926 and may even have inspired CWA’s one time idea of charging water consumption by the number of taps one had installed* – which inevitably made taps disappear, to be replaced by movable water hoses, of course…

Borrowing had its limitations too, the main one of which was that the loan had to be reimbursed, of course, failing which, the king became “bad credit” and could no longer use that most convenient of windows. However, the next question was how to reimburse without the depletion of one’s own treasury?

Well, by going to war of course and raiding other kings and nobles’ fortunes, both of which seemed to be the juiciest, most obvious targets of these days. Sometimes you could do it ‘at home’ as it were. One example amongst many is the opportunistic utilization of the Inquisition in Spain to help seize ‘witches’ properties and fortunes. This was followed a little later by the expulsion of the Jews as from 1492; the church, which generously supported Ferdinand and Isabella’s wishes and endeavors, seizing most of their assets as they left; when they refused, as 1/3rd of them did, the alternative of being converted to Catholicism. Sometimes you could even do it to nominal allies. As was the case when the 4th crusade sacked and pillaged Constantinople - though those stories were not, it is true, quite as straightforward as spelt out here.

Now, going to war does not look to be quite the option for minister Padayachy who is growingly desperate for money for his king’s needs. In the feeding trough that is the world, we are clearly nowhere close to being an alpha male anyway and Chetak helicopters can only carry seven… The modern, local way is softer, less gory and looks quite painless for a time: borrow for as long as needed to pay for all your follies, from safe city to the costs of nepotism, from the CSG to the ever expanding metro, from patent wastage and 9% cost cuttings which never happen to hefty pension sweeties for optimal electoral merriment; then tax nimbly through currency devaluation rather than a “gabelle”, and eventually raid the reserves or simply… print the money!

Can such a policy really be without cost? Of course not! Especially if you do not work harder to pay it all back! However, fortunately for those who are clocking up the IOUs, the actual bills will only show up some time in the future, like credit card bills showing up after any head-spinning and apparently effortless binge! In addition, they may well then not be there to pay up on their recklessness…

This is why the new year message of the PM, adding a fresh public holiday on the January 3, strikes the wrong note, unless we must accept that public holidays are no longer opportunities to celebrate a religious feast or mark a commemorative day – which matters can surely be adequately attended to on any day, including Saturdays and Sundays – but actual “no work days” that should not be wasted on “no work day” weekends! The message? Relax! Have another day off! Daddy is looking after you and everything is under control… Close your eyes… Enjoy!

By the way, in this country which is already a model of generosity when it comes to clocking out or closing up for cyclonic weather or for heavy rainfall (even the private sector has a 9-page protocol nowadays! Good work, gents!), let us please take note of the fact that there are four more public holidays, which happen to fall on a weekend in 2022! Indeed, Independence Day, Ugaadi, Labor (!) day and Christmas all fall on either a Saturday or a Sunday! Well, now that the precedent has been set rather thoughtlessly to start our year, do we get another four public holidays? And why wouldn’t an argument be also made now for Monday January 31, being decreed a public holiday too, as the Chinese Spring festival and the Abolition of slavery day both fall on Tuesday February 1, this year – a clear wastage of a public holiday, by more recent thinking standards . Anyway, it also makes for a very natural pontoon, which some would exploit anyway, lying as it does between a Tuesday and a weekend…

In addition, even though these will not help repay all the country’s happily accumulated liabilities, couldn’t we just attempt to solve another issue by casually calling these decisions …innovations?

*The benefit arising being that troublesome, costly water meters would no longer have to be replaced. Which was not a bad idea. However, next time this is tried out, if ever, may we suggest a full survey of taps prior to the new billing system being rolled out? Even so, you might have to better shield CWA officers and their political masters, if water does not then actually flow… 24/365!