‘Amid the cobbled passageways and tumbling tenements of the Italian city of Perugia, it’s possible to daydream you are in the middle ages. You are surrounded by medieval art and architecture. And then you think: hold on, what happened to the Renaissance?’ So begins Paul Mason’s article for the Guardian on Monday about the Panama Papers, in which he makes the case that because Perugia’s wealthy citizens did not pay their taxes, the city fell into decline. ‘We want to be the Florence, Bruges or Amsterdam of the coming century, not the Perugia,’ he adds.
Renaissance Florence may be intoxicating and I don’t doubt that its citizens were possibly better at paying their taxes than Perugia’s. But does Paul Mason – a man known for his blasts against global capitalism and contemporary banking culture – really want us to imitate Florence? A city built on – and famed for – its intricate banking systems.
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