I don't like long posts with lots of quotations, as with many on this thread. However we are dealing with an extremely weighty and important topic here.
The Baha'is are very positive about many of the social, political, and religious developments over the last century or so. In contrast to some Christian denominations who fear one world governments and label organisations like the United Nations, the beast, the Baha'is are extremely positive about international organisations that promote social and economic integration despite their obvious flaws and limitations.
The Baha'i vision again:
“A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour definitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law—the product of the considered judgement of the world’s federated representatives—shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship—such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.”
and
The implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by Bahá’u’lláh: “The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men.”
The Promise of World Peace—The Universal House of Justice
It will be for governments to decide, as they do now. Governments of the future will be better at it, and in contrast to the more extreme lassaiz faire free market policies where the business entrepreneurs will take care of everything both to do with economics and social welfare, they will be much more concerned and proactively engaged with meeting social need.
On the one hand, people of all nations proclaim not only their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, for an end to the harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other, uncritical assent is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.
This is pivotal to a more peaceful and prosperous global community IMHO. Some socialist principles are entirely consistent with the spirit of the new age and Baha'i teachings. However:
'The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude. Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.'
The Promise of World Peace—The Universal House of Justice
Flat Tax or Graduated Tax?
No, it is a well established economic principle to assist managing the inordinate disparity between wealth and poverty.
The significance of this Baha'i Teaching, is not that it is something new, but in keeping with the spirit of the age. Many Baha'i Teachings that would have seemed fringe a century ago, are now mainstream now.
Profit sharing has becoming increasingly utilised by businesses as it results in a more motivated workforce, and a more humane working environment, where everyone feels much more engaged and part of the team.
Also, every factory that has ten thousand shares will give two thousand shares of these ten thousand to its employees and will write the shares in their names, so that they may have them, and the rest will belong to the capitalists. Then at the end of the month or year whatever they may earn after the expenses and wages are paid, according to the number of shares, should be divided among both.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p. 43)
Profit Sharing
It should be emphasised again that Baha'u'llah did not bring an economic system, and this will develop organically over time.
Bahá’u’lláh did not bring a complete system of economics to the world. Profit sharing is recommended as a solution to one form of economic problems. There is nothing in the teachings against some kind of capitalism; its present form, though, would require adjustments to be made.
Bahá'í Reference Library - Directives from the Guardian, Pages 20-21
Once again mainstream Baha'i ideology and keeping with the spirit of the age. Politicians here don't always have the best reputation for walking the talk. How about in your country?
The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the “new world” promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world’s peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?