Very Old Europe: let’s keep our taxes complicated, shall we?
What's not to like about it?
A flat-tax has been shown to *increase* tax revenues, reduce tax evasion, lower tax collection costs, and make for many happy citizens who don't have to waste days of their lives trying to navigate complex tax rules.
Yet for some reason, it's emerged that a UK treasury study on flat-tax feasibility was heavily censored when released to the public. All the parts that gave positive assessment of a flat-tax were cut out, apparently to make it seem that the idea had been seen as bad.
I like Gordon Brown for his intelligence, idealism, and for setting the example as real hard worker. But it's hard not to think he's been steadily turning the UK tax code into a gigantic mess with too much micromanaging and social engineering. Does he like this complexity? To the point where he'd suppress any hint of the benefits of a flat-tax?
The censorship by the treasury was very old-Europe. Thankfully, the chap who leaked the full report, and exposed the censorship, was being very new-Europe :)
Link: This is Money.