by Anthony Painter
I like mango. You may not be interested in that fact but I think you should be. It’s not just a taste or preference, it’s a potential public good. I’m not going to leave it at simply enjoying the odd glass of mango juice or a mango half now and again. I’m going to use my love of mango to transform our economy and society. Just you watch me.
First of all, I’m going to get together with other mango lovers and we are going to explore the ways in which mangoes can change the world together. We will talk about the health giving benefits of the fruit, the positive economic impact of expanding consumption and production, the moral benefit to be derived from its consumption and the civic advantages of building a real discourse around mangoes. We will then set up a Mango Commission and ask independent experts to come up with a plan to promote the mango through public policy.
This commission will show how mango consumption can replace international aid to poor mango-producing countries thereby reducing potential migrant flows and saving public cash. The public health benefits will be lauded and a massive mango subsidy will be advocated. Import duties on mangoes will be eliminated and that will increase economic growth as an entire new industry emerges around mango importation, processing, distribution and retail.
By the end of the 2020s, this industry will add 5% to GDP. It will expand employment. Mango growers, sellers and distributors love it and they know what they are talking about. We will live longer, fuller, richer, happier lives. With this new healthy and wealthy outlook, we will commit ourselves to public good works and civic renewal. We will be the virtuous society. We will be the virile society.
So I had the answer from the beginning. I then set about dragging together evidence to prove that my preference was in fact a wider public good. It wasn’t just my taste. There was a wider ethical, economic, political and scientific case.
This pretty much sums up the approach to the report of 2020 Tax Commission from the Institute of Directors/Taxpayers’ Alliance.
