©Michele Monticello Essay all photos ©Michele Monticello
I recently came across an article in Property Investor Today titled “Would PM’s backing of property tax reform worry investors?” The article discusses growing concerns around potential changes to property taxation and the possibility of broader tax reforms affecting homeowners, landlords, investors, and savers. Whether such reforms ultimately happen is almost beside the point. What struck me was something deeper. Many people already feel that they are being asked to carry an ever increasing burden. They work, pay income tax, pay VAT, save what they can, buy property with already taxed income, and then hear discussions about further taxes on wealth, savings, property, or land. Reading the article left me wondering whether the real issue is not taxation itself, but something more fundamental. At what point do people begin to question the relationship between themselves and the institutions they support? That thought led me to write the following reflection.
The forgotten Power
There is a quiet assumption at the heart of modern society. We are taught that power flows downward. From governments. From institutions. From authority. Laws are made. Taxes are levied. Rules are set and the citizen is expected to comply. Most people rarely question this arrangement. Life is busy enough as it is. You work, you earn, you pay your bills, you try to get on with things. Yet beneath this ordinary rhythm lies a deeper question. Where does power actually come from?
Governments do not create wealth. People create wealth. Governments do not produce goods, grow food, build homes, care for the sick, or keep the economy running. People do. Every institution that exists is ultimately sustained by the labour, skill, and cooperation of ordinary men and women. Every pound collected in tax was first earned by someone. This leads to an uncomfortable thought. If the people create the wealth, fund the system, and sustain it through their daily cooperation, who truly holds the power? The obvious answer is the people. Yet most people do not feel powerful. They feel increasingly squeezed. They work harder than ever, yet often feel no closer to stability. They see a portion of their earnings taken in tax. They hear debates about new taxes on savings, on property, on land. At every stage of life, another claim seems to be made on the fruits of their labour but the issue is not only financial. The deeper issue is trust. Every society rests on an unspoken agreement. People cooperate because they believe the system is broadly fair. That effort leads to progress. That sacrifice has meaning an that tomorrow can be better than today. When that belief holds, people tolerate a great deal. They continue working, saving, contributing, and participating.
But when that belief begins to weaken, something important shifts. Not immediately. Not dramatically. But quietly. History shows that governments often mistake compliance for consent. The absence of protest is not the same as the presence of trust and beneath that distinction lies the most important political reality of all. Authority depends on something it cannot directly control. Cooperation.
Which raises a question that is rarely asked openly. What would happen if enough people simply said no? Not through violence. Not through revolution but through withdrawal of consent. No, we do not agree. No, we do not accept. No, we will not continue as before.
Would it require half the population? Seventy percent? Or would the balance begin to shift long before any clear majority was reached? maybe there is no precise answer.
History offers no percentage at which a society changes direction. What it does show is that power is often more fragile than it appears. Systems can look permanent right up until the moment they are not. because every system ultimately depends on a single assumption. That tomorrow, people will once again get up, go to work, and participate. Not because they are forced but because they still believe the arrangement is worth sustaining and beneath that belief lies the real foundation of everything. The people who appear to have the least power individually are, collectively, the source of all power. The worker. The saver. The homeowner. The pensioner.
Individually, each seems small but together, they sustain the entire structure ab the question is not whether the people possess power. They do. The question is whether they remember it and whether those who govern remember it too, because authority is not ultimately maintained by force. It is maintained by trust and once it begins to erode, does not announce itself loudly. It fades quietly, until one day a society finds itself asking a question it thought it would never need to ask.
Not “Who is in charge?” But “Why do we still agree?”
Article from Property Investor Today
©Michele Monticello https://www.michelemonticello.com/