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A taxing solution

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    A taxing solution

    A taxing solution

    A quiet revolution has been sweeping through the countries of the old Soviet bloc. It is the flat tax revolution, the idea that complex tax structures can be replaced with a single tax rate applied to income, spending or corporate profits. Estonia led the way a decade ago with a flat tax rate of 26% (soon to be cut to 20%). Slovakia has the same 19% tax rate on incomes, profits and consumer spending. Now Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine have all adopted elements of the flat tax.

    Notably so has Russia. It has a flat tax of 13% on personal income and 35% on profits. Thus an idea usually associated with free-market think tanks in America is blossoming at the heart of what used to be the Soviet empire.

    Until now the reaction in the West has been one of curiosity. Such simple arrangements are fine for countries building tax systems from scratch, the argument goes, but not for sophisticated economies. That, however, is changing. The Greek government, led by Kostas Karamanlis, is actively considering a 25% flat rate of income tax to replace existing rates of 15%, 30% and 40%.

    In Germany tax rates have been coming down. Angela Merkel, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, front-runner to emerge as the largest party in next month’s federal elections, has appointed Paul Kirchhof, a leading advocate of the flat tax, to her campaign. Two years ago he recommended a 25% flat rate of tax on personal income and company profits, something that would give Germany a huge advantage.

    The arguments in favour of a flat tax are straightforward and compelling. By setting a single tax rate and abolishing complex reliefs, allowances and credits, the tax system becomes simple to administer and easy to understand. Accountants might suffer, but the rest of us would gain. If the flat tax is set at a low enough rate, the rich lose the incentive to engage in expensive tax planning schemes. Those on low incomes can be protected with a generous tax threshold.

    Could it work here? The Treasury has been examining the arguments. In a paper released under Freedom of Information rules it appeared to have little to say in favour. But detective work by George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, has uncovered sections of the paper that it refused to publish. They show that Gordon Brown’s department finds flat taxes are simpler, more efficient and likely to “stimulate the economy and lead to increased employment”. They are also progressive; the rich pay proportionately more.

    Old hands at the Treasury can also recall useful precedents. Nigel Lawson’s corporate tax reforms of the 1980s moved in a flat tax direction by setting a single tax rate for companies and abolishing most reliefs. The result was a surge in corporate tax revenues. The Thatcher cuts in the higher rates of income tax led to an increase in tax revenues from the better off and a rise in the proportion of income tax paid by them. This was exactly what Professor Arthur Laffer, inventor of the Laffer curve, would have predicted: if you cut taxes you can increase tax revenues and create a virtuous circle.

    Mr Brown, of course, is a lost cause when it comes to the flat tax. He has, if anything, gone the other way, introducing more complexity into the tax system, including the labyrinthine nightmare of his tax credits. Critics such as the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research argue that a flat tax is just a Trojan horse for cutting taxes. Nothing wrong with that, though, if it increases the government’s revenues by encouraging enterprise and reducing avoidance. We report today that the think tank Reform says that the “Ipod” generation is insecure, debt-ridden and, above all, over-taxed. Young people are having the dynamism and enterprise knocked out of them. For an economy to thrive, that clearly has to change and a flat tax might just be the answer.

    ---

    Yeah 13% income tax is nice, but they also charge 35% social security tax from enterprise, and clearly enterprises ain't going to legalise much higher black salaries paid in envelopes.

    #2
    There was an article in The Economist about it this week. Turns out that the study paper the Treasury was forced to release under the Freedom of Information act had several sections blacked out (normally this is only done for security related information). George Osbourne's detective work was to discover that the blacked out sections were all of those that contained the advantages of flat tax, thereby seeming at face value to be a negative assessment.

    The Adam Smith insitute proposed that a suitable system for the UK would be a flat rate of 22.5% corporation, personal and VAT, with personal income tax kicking in at £12k, taking most of the complex to administer tax credit cases out of the system altogether.

    However, as we all know, the last thing tax 'n' spend governments want is people knowing how much tax they pay, so it's just not happening here. Gordon Brown's stated opinion is that a flat tax is only suitable for "very immature economies".

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Lucifer Box
      The Adam Smith insitute proposed that a suitable system for the UK would be a flat rate of 22.5% corporation, personal and VAT, with personal income tax kicking in at £12k, taking most of the complex to administer tax credit cases out of the system altogether.
      I'd say this is pretty reasonable -- 12k tax free should be enough to live okay outside of London too.

      It wont happen under Labour though, even though most of taxes they get are indirect like VAT, duties etc.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Lucifer Box
        George Osbourne's detective work
        It is nice to see one party considering something sensible.

        Comment


          #5
          I wonder what the numbers would be if someone did a study on tax lost through avoidance and evasion and money spent on getting people to pay tax v money made/lost on a flat rate scheme.

          Personally...if they introduce a flat rate tax of around 20% WITH NO OTHER TAX WHACKED ON then they will make money as there is no point in avoiding tax (like we do now as contractors ).

          However, Gordo lives in laalaa land so we know this will never happen.

          Mailman

          Comment


            #6
            I hope not.
            This kind of simplified flat-rate schemes would be very bad news for all of us!
            Chico, what time is it?

            Comment


              #7
              Bad news for whom?

              Those of us who are actually paying income-tax, do you mean?
              Why not?

              Comment


                #8
                no, those of us who avoid it!
                Contractors, like
                Chico, what time is it?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Oh please

                  How do you get away without declaring an income on which you would be taxed? You can't take everything as dividend FFS.
                  Why not?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I think the point of this thread is to highlight the fact that if there was a flat-rate tax on everything, say 20%, then whether you work as a contractor or not, you'd be taxed exactly the same: takehome = gross * 80%
                    So not possibility to cheat, reduce or otherwise avoid (legally or not). No dividend vs salary, no expenses, nothing.
                    So let's thank the great UK Treasury for keeping complicated rules , exceptions and exemptions, that allow us to get better returns than PAYE employees!!
                    Chico, what time is it?

                    Comment

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