Is Brussels the New Borscht Belt?

J.D. Foster / October 20, 2010

Borscht Belt is a colloquial name for the Catskills Mountains in New York where famous comedians of the 1940s to 1960s would work their trade. Named after borscht, a beetroot soup popular in Central and Eastern Europe, the area was known for hotels and clubs that catered mainly to New York’s Jewish families and featured stand-up routines by the likes of Milton Berle, Phyllis Diller, and Jackie Mason. It was a golden age of comedy.

Recent evidence suggests that this may be where the distinguished parliamentarians of the European Union sitting in Brussels get their inspiration, because some of their ideas would make Phyllis Diller’s hair stand on end.

The latest nugget from EU stand-up café is the announcement that Brussels is looking into new tax options to fund the $120 billion a year EU budget. For example, one popular proposal is a new European-wide tax to ease the financial burdens on national governments. Some of the other wiz-bang ideas for financing a meta-national government in Brussels include a financial transactions tax, a carbon-emission tax, and an aviation tax. (more…)