12 Days of Christmas Archives - IREF Europe

2 Turtle Doves

Petr Barton — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 22:51:45 +0000

To replace the original sacrifice of two turtle doves, the biggest European authority in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church, dictated what people should eat. EU governments continue doing the same, by fiscal means. However, this fiscal policy is full of paradoxes. Governments tax consumption of “bad” food, while also subsidising its production at the same time.

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1 Partridge in a Pear Tree

Petr Barton — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 21:33:00 +0000

A partridge in a pear tree, the famous gift of the first day of Christmas, is at the centre of an EU fiscal paradox: European taxpayers are paying for extensive programmes to protect the habitat of the dwindling species. At the same time, they are fiscally forced to help to destroy partridge’s habitat through subsidised conversions into farmland and suburban development.

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