Eurotax kite won't fly because the EU is a members' club, not a union

Jason Walsh here, filling in for Gerry Feehily.

Last week a particularly lofty kite was flown in the form of a proposed EU-wide tax to fund the activities of the beast of Brussels, the world's most boring bureaucracy. As the FT Deutschland reported budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski wants to get around the age of austerity by funding the union directly rather than from national coffers.

It would be explosive stuff if it was actually a serious idea. Of course, no-one actually expects a eurotax to be levied any time soon.

The idea of a eurotax would surely be unpopular in the sense that no-one likes being asked for money but if matched with a reduction in national taxes who would complain? Indeed, all but the most fevered eurosceptic could surely be convinced that if the EU paid its own way directly it might actually cost less to run. There's nothing like having to run one's own finances to make people suddenly aware of the value of money.

Anyone expecting this argument to be taken to the various European publics shouldn't hold their breath, though. As always the EU is pushing closer integration by the back door and refusing to engage with the public.

The defining character of the the EU is mistrust of the "little people", seeing them as nothing but a roadblock. But isn't there a case to be made that people just don't like the EU's aloof machinations and respond, on the few occasions they are actually consulted, by telling the faceless stiffs in Brussels or Strasbourg or whatever remote and unreported city they operate from to get knotted?

The British are notoriously eurosceptic, of course, but it's not just wild-eyed Tories in the shires who are increasingly wary of the EU. The French and Dutch rejections of the EU constitution stunned the eurocrats who resolved to never consult the filthy public again. Alas, the Irish constitution required a public vote when it came to constitution mark two – aka the Lisbon "treaty" – but, as we suspected then and soon found out for sure, the EU has no intention of listening to the irksome, "ungrateful" peasants who live on the brink of the Atlantic pit.

The thing is, the Irish aren't anti-European or even anti-EU. Perhaps a case could be made for English exceptionalism but most EU citizens are happy enough in the union. And why not? Freedom of movement alone is worth the price of membership.

So, here we have another idea that might actually be worth discussing. Are we going to have a debate, then? Not a chance.