ABSTRACT
Inequality is the first and most powerful instrument for the elimination or draining of any democratic guarantee that people can imagine; it is difficult to combat because it is devious, hidden and neglected. The unsettling broadening of social differences undermines democratic principles. The post-democracy that Colin Crouch refers to, actually feeds on inequality. In contrast, the increase in indirect taxation, that which is paid through the purchase of products and services, is deeply anti-democratic, hidden under the guise of its generality: the fact that affects all consumers in equal measure and is not an egalitarian instrument by any means. Unlike totalitarian regimes, neoliberal states are using economic restrictions and the elimination of social services as modulators of democracy. Their secret weapon is the discount rate. It is a subtle and hypocritical method because it manages to deftly achieve with no resistance what authoritarian governments imposed by force, thus saving appearances.
