Tax:

[abu nuwas]

We have of course become used to Income Tax, introduced as an emergency measure to fund the Napoleonic Wars, and somehow not abolished afterwards. We think of these taxes as a necessary evil, and the more liberal we are, the more accepting we are of them. In the UK, we have a whole plethora: Capital Gains Tax, Capital Transfer Tax, Inheritance Tax, National Insurance, Stamp Duty, VAT, Excise, as well as local Council Tax, supplemented by parking meters and fines. It does seem, that whatever else, and whatever the level of taxation, the primary objectives should be fairness and simplification.

When Value Added Tax was introduced, it was at a low level, and supposed to increase productivity. It is now 20% on anything you buy, and no-one now would make the productivity claim.

What if all taxes were abolished, but a single tax levied on property?

Or -- all taxes abolished, but the Government would be deemed to own x% of every company, sufficient to balance the books, but then set in stone? Perhaps some ancillary legislation to take care of sole traders. Companies could pay what dividends they wanted, and as they did so, money would floow into the Treasury coffers. No more legions of civil servants calculating all these taxes.

Tax is like a kind of sex through the looking glass, isn't it?

I'm an 'other'.